Modest gains for the day

The stock market witnessed volatile moves and swung 229 points during intra-day trades, as shares gyrated sharply between zones. Taking cue from firm global indices, Sensex started on a positive note at 8906 but failed to sustain its gains, as a sharp bout of profit-taking pulled the index below 8700 mark to an intra-day low of 8699. While the market remained lacklustre with a negative bias, Sensex rolled back to the green by mid-noon trades on renewed buying support, and surged to an intra-day high of 8928. However, a fresh round of profit-taking towards the fag end saw Sensex pare its gains and end at 8814, up 35 points, while Nifty added eight points to close at 2714.

The breadth of the market was negative. Of the 2,496 stocks traded on the BSE 1,661 stocks declined, 739 stocks advanced and 96 stocks remained unchanged. Among the sectoral indices, BSE Realty index dropped 5.47% while BSE CD, BSE Metal, BSE CG and BSE Auto also ended at lower levels. BSE Teck, BSE Bankex, BSE Oil and BSE IT gained around 0.36-1% each.

Select heavyweights edged higher on decent buying support. Bharti Airtel rose 6.07% at Rs619, ICICI Bank jumped 2.98% at Rs380, Grasim advanced 2.94% at Rs1,175, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries added 2.529% at Rs1,100, Sterlite Industries gained 2.42% at Rs243 and ACC gained 2.09% at Rs488.10. However, select front-line stocks came under selling pressure. DLF was the major loser and dropped 9.36% at Rs164.05. Among other draggers Ranbaxy Laboratories declined 8.89% at Rs186.10, Hindalco Industries dropped 7.49% at Rs43.85 and Reliance Infrastructure shed 6.15% at Rs488.40. While Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki India, Larsen & Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra closed with loss of 2-5% each.

Over 2.99 crore shares of Satyam Computer Services changed hands on the BSE followed by UNITECH (1.52 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (97 lakh shares), Suzlon Energy (62 lakh shares) and GVK Power & Infrastructure (59 lakh shares).