Sensex slips amid volatility

The market saw high volatility during the day, as stocks gyrated between the either sides of the zones throughout the session with Sensex witnessing the intra-day swing of 227 points. The market opened lower by overnight loss in US markets, but pared early loss as investor sentiment turned cautious, as Sensex neared its intra-day high of 8,859 points. Thereafter, sustained selling in frontline, banking and metal stocks saw Sensex enter into the negative territory. After displaying some range-bound moves, the market plunged deep into the red on heavy selling towards the close to touch the day's low of 8632. Sensex finally closed the session at 8674, down 139 points. Nifty closed down at 2679, down 35 points.

The breadth of the market was negative. Of the 2,503 stocks traded on BSE 1,609 stocks declined, 795 stocks advanced and 99 stocks ended unchanged. Among sectoral indices, BSE Bankex shed 4.16%, BSE Metal declined 3.35% and BSE CG was down 2.87%. However, BSE HC, BSE CD and BSE Oil & Gas closed in the green.

Selling was evident in select heavyweights. Mahindra & Mahindra dropped 7.93% at Rs264.70, Tata Steel declined 7.17% at Rs166.35, Jaiprakash Associates tumbled 6.95% at Rs61.55, Reliance Communications shed 4.50% at Rs160.15, State Bank of India dipped 4.34% at Rs1041.75, ICICI Bank was down 3.71% at Rs214 and Larsen & Toubro shed 3.47% at Rs640.85.
Selective buying helped the index overcome its losses. Tata Motors gained 1.81% at Rs135.10, Reliance Industries advanced 1.78% at Rs1153.15, Ranbaxy Laboratories gained 0.75% at Rs 187.50 and National Thermal Power Corporation added 0.28% at Rs179.40.

Over 11.14 crore shares of Satyam Computer Services changed hands on the BSE followed by United Spirits (1.60 crore shares), Cals Refineries (94.82 lakh shares), Reliance Natural Resources (66.53 lakh shares) and IFCI (58.85 lakh shares).