Sensex settles with a modest gain : Sify.com

NSE 5634.60 17.05
BSE 19003.26 64.39

Taking cues from global markets which had surged higher on expectations of a rate cut, equities opened on a high note on the major Indian bourses this morning, and, due to heavy short-covering in the derivatives segment ahead of expiry of November series contracts, remained high up in the positive zone till about an hour to go for the closing bell.

However, due to a fairly strong bout of selling in a few blue chip stocks, the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up a significant portion of their gains in the end. Bank, oil and realty stocks closed with smart gains. Information technology stocks, which had a bright spell today, closed well off their intra-day highs due to strong resistance during the fag end of the day.
Auto stocks too surrendered most of their gains. Power, healthcare and capital goods stocks met with profit taking. Selling was evident in late afternoon trade in midcap and smallcap segments as well.

While the Sensex, which opened with a huge positive gap of over 350 points at 19,290.67, ended the session with a modest gain of 64.39 points or 0.34% at 19,003.26, the Nifty settled at 5634.60, well off its high of 5725, with a gain of 0.3% or 17.05 points. Till around mid afternoon, only a few stocks among the Sensex components, were seen struggling to make a headway. However, when trade ended for the day, as many as 14 stocks from the Sensex pack had drifted down into the red. Among them, Bajaj Auto (down 4.65%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 2.65%), Reliance Energy (down 2.35%) and Tata Steel (down 2%) were the worst hit.

Reliance Communications, Hindalco and BHEL eased by 1.95%, 1.85% and 1.35% respectively. ITC, HDFC, ONGC and Larsen & Toubro lost 0.5% - 1%. Cipla and Grasim Industries lost marginal ground. Banking sector heavyweights HDFC Bank (4.3%), ICICI Bank (3.15%) and State Bank of India (0.8%) closed with sharp gains.

Reliance Industries firmed up by 1.15%. Automobile stocks Maruti Suzuki (2.5%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (1.5%) ended on a firm note. Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Ambuja Cements, NTPC, DLF and Tata Motors closed with modest gains. IT stocks Wipro, Satyam Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies ended with very small gains.

Reliance Petroleum flared up 12.25% on hectic short-covering. On the National Stock Exchange, the Reliance Petroleum counter clocked a huge volume of 176.59 million shares today. At nearly Rs 3625 crore, RPL's contribution to the turnover on NSE today was quite significant.

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