Sensex ends 112.47 points up

Mumbai, Aug 6: The Sensex wiped off most of the early gains but mananged to end marginally higher by 112.47 points at 15,073.54 amid bouts of volatility. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index shed 350 points even as Nifty of National Stock Exchange came off 100 points from their respective day's high in late trade.

However, Sensex resumed the day far above the 15K level and remained above the psyschological level throughout the day. It opened at 15,263.65 and extended positive moves to touch an intraday high at 15,422.82 on sustained buying interest in early trade and gained over 461 points from its previous close of 14,961.07. Similarly, the Nifty hit a day's high at 4,615.90 in early trade but ended with a marginal gain of 14.70 points at 4,517 and remained above the 4,500 level.

The key indices gave up early gains in last one hour of session as the day traders showed interest in profit booking at higher level, brokers said.

Frontline stock counters witnessed profit booking at higher levels from domestic and hedge funds. Rise in crude oil price was another concern, which reflected on the market sentiments in late trade, pulling indices lower, brokers said.

Auto, capital goods, technology and FMCG stocks were in demand throughout the day, while sell off seen largely in banks, metals, power and real estate stocks at institutional desk.

Turnover traded in markets was quoted at Rs 86,962.63 crore, which included Rs 18,596.36 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 61,180.08 crore from NSE F &O and balance Rs 7,186.19 crore from BSE Cash segment.

The market breadth was strong till late trading session but turned negative in the last hour. 1466 shares declined on BSE as compared to 1245 that rose, while 78 remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index closed slightly up at 5,855.42. However, Small-Cap index declined 0.68pc to 7,144.13 and underperformed the Sensex.

Auto stocks extended the gains today as Maruti Suzuki India surged 6.25 pc to Rs 652.80 on 5.15 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. Tata Motors was up 4.31 pc to Rs 426.70 and Mahindra &Mahindra was up 3.10pc to Rs 565.

Banking shares were mixed. HDFC Bank ended up by 3.94pc to Rs 1231 and ICICI Bank gained 1.43pc to Rs 703.20. However, India's largest state-run lender State Bank of India Bank lost 3.79 pc to Rs 1519.

Moreover, public sector banks shares slid after a strong start. Vijaya Bank declined 3.66pc to Rs 38.20, Andhra Bank lost 4.45pc to Rs 59, Bank of India slid 2.96pc to Rs 298.30, Bank of Baroda lost 5.94pc to Rs 281 and Allahabad Bank declined 1.69pc to Rs 64.10.

Frontline telecom shares surged. Bharti Airtel gained 3.62pc to Rs 870. The company today announced that it would launch Apple Inc's third-generation iPhone in India on August 22. Tata Com gained 3.59 pc at Rs 459.25 and Reliance Communications (RCom) was up 0.83pc to Rs 445.90.

Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 0.66pc at Rs 2291 on 14.07 lakh shares. The stock moved in a range of Rs 2348 and Rs 2282 during the day.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) gained 1.57pc to Rs 1018.10, Bharat Heavy Electricals jumped 2.97pc to Rs 1822.90, Larsen&Toubro gained 2.11pc to Rs 2756.

UNI

UNI