Back to square one almost

After registering gains for the last session, the Sensex opened higher today, but immediately plunged on the back of weak global indices. The index gained some momentum in mid morning trades, but after exhibiting some volatile moves, the index slipped into the red again on heavy selling in information technology stocks. The benchmark touched the day's low of 13819, down 68 points of its previous close. The resumption of buying in the afternoon saw the Sensex move into positive territory and the index gained some strength. But, lack of buying interest kept the market subdued and the Sensex closed the session on a flat note, 26 points up at 13913. Nifty closed the session down one point at 4238.



The market breadth was negative, with the losers outpacing the gainers in the ratio of 7.83:1. Of the 2,814 stocks that traded on the BSE, 2,469 stocks declined, 315 stocks advanced and 30 stocks ended unchanged. Most of the sectoral indices ended in the green except the BSE IT and the BSE Teck. The BSE CD gained 4.79% at 2627.84 followed by the BSE Realty (up 4.25% at 3451) and the BSE HC (up 2.83% at 3472.93.) Rest of the indices gained 0.25% to 2% each.



Among Sensex stocks, Ranbaxy Laboratories was the leading gainer and soared 20.73% at Rs266.70. JP Associates advanced 7.16% at Rs185.60. Among other stocks, Sterlite Industries jumped 5.94% at Rs538.10, DLF shot up by 5.42% at Rs334, while ITC, Tata Power, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Reliance Communications, Tata Steel and Maruti Suzuki India closed with marginal gains. Among laggards, Bharti Airtel tumbled 5.41% at Rs811.40, National Thermal Power Corporation shed 1.66% at Rs212.75, HDFC declined by 1.63% at Rs2087.55 and Grasim Industries lost 1.63% at Rs2109.70.


Over 12.88 crore shares of Cals Refineries changed hands on the BSE followed by Suzlon Energy (8.39 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (3.36 crore shares), Ispat Industries (2.70 crore shares) and Satyam Computer Services (2.50 crore shares).