Sensex closes 43 pts lower at 10,200

Mumbai, Feb 24 (UNI) Even as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark index had a quantum jump yesterday when it crossed the 10,300 mark, it slide today and closed at 10,200.76 today, down by 43 points from yesterday's close.

Banking scrips were the major gainers today and were led by Bank of India rising by 6.98 per cent; Canara Bank rose by 6.93 per cent rise; Andhra Bank rose 5.40 per cent; Indian Overseas Bank rose by 5.36 per cent; Bank of Baroda was up by 4.51 per cent; Syndicate Bank was up by 4.11 per cent; Punjab National Bank was up by 3.92 per cent and Oriental Bank of Commerce was up 3.65 per cent.

Index heavyweight SBI was also up by 2.77 per cent and largest private bank ICICI Bank rose by 1.19 per cent.

Earlier, the 30-share BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) opened higher at 10,256 points, as compared to last close at 10,244.

The key index touched a high of 10,271 before dipping to a low of 10,177 in the intra-day trading.

BSE indices of infotech, FMCG, automobile and metal sectors ended in the red. However, bank, capital goods, consumer durables and PSU counters were up.

BSE smallcap index was down by 0.20 per cent and midcap index was up by 0.34 per cent.

Top Sensex gainers were SBI, Larsen&Toubro, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Tata Power,ICICI Bank,NTPC, Tata Steel, Grasim Industries, BHEL and Reliance Industries.

Top losers were - Dr Reddy's Lab, HLL, Hero Honda, ONGC, Satyam Computers, Bajaj Auto, ITC , Ranbaxy Laboratories, Infosys Technologies and HDFC Bank.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange S&P CNX Nifty index closed down by 12.05 per cent at 3,050.05 as compared to last close of 3,062.10.

Reliance Energy Ventures Ltd (REVL), an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group company, made its debut on the bourses today.

REVL's Rs 10 share opened at Rs 48.90 on the NSE and dipped to a low of Rs 42.85. It finally closed at Rs 43.90.

The volumes were high with 1.65 crore shares traded on the NSE.

On the BSE, REVL, demerged from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, opened at Rs 45.7 and touched a high of Rs 46 and a low of Rs 42.9. It finally closed at Rs 43.65 with 85.38 lakh shares traded on the BSE.

As a part of restructuring process presently on in the ADAG, REVL has announced it will merge with Reliance Energy Ltd.

Overall, the market turnover was quite low, after the Future&Options (F&O) expiry at 27,862 crore, as compared to 50,242 crore yesterday.

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