Profit taking trims gains

Even as major Asian indices like Nikkei, Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi ended lower for the day, Sensex ended positive despite failing to hold on to its early rally, closing way off its highs amid profit taking towards the closing hours. Riding on the back of yesterday's negative close and optimism in several international markets, Sensex resumed 124 points higher at 9129 and advanced sharply on sustained buying scaling past 9300 touching an intra-day high of 9303. After remaining above 9200 for the entire first half, Sensex witnessed profit taking and slipped below 9050 to touch the day's low of 9,041, down 26 points. Sensex finally ended the session with gains of 83 points at 9149, while Nifty gained 17 points to close at 2784.

Among front liners, Grasim Industries soared 7.43% at Rs1278.10, ACC rose 5.26% at Rs519, Maruti Suzuki India added 3.58% at Rs586.90, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd jumped 2.84% at Rs1,345, ITC advanced 2.59% at Rs180.50, Wipro gained 2.43% at Rs225.45, ONGC moved up 2.13% at Rs653 and Tata Consultancy Services soared 2.03% at Rs501.95. However, DLF dropped 13.25% at Rs132.90 while Tata Motors declined 6.41% at Rs133.50 and Hindalco Industries, National Thermal Power Corporation, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Ranbaxy Laboratories lost 0.5-2%.

The breadth of the market turned negative. Of the 2,514 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,339 stocks declined, 1,074 stocks advanced and 101 stocks ended unchanged. BSE Oil & Gas was the lead performer and rose 1.44% while BSE FMCG gained 1.01%.

Over 3.65 crore shares of Satyam Computer Services changed hands on the BSE followed by Spice Tele (3.52 crore shares), Unitech (1.31 crore shares), DLF (1.30 crore shares) and Reliance Natural Resources (1.04 crore shares).