Sensex dips 23 pts in afternoon trade at 10,603

Mumbai, Mar 3 (UNI) After a spell of bull-run, the BSE Sensex was trading down by 23 points this afternoon at 10,603 over yesterday's close of 10,626.

The equity markets had a volatile session this morning as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) opened 23 points up at 10,649 and touched a high of 10,690, but then dipped by around 90 points to a low of 10,598 during the first hour of trade.

Yesterday, the index had touched a new high of 10,706 points in the intra-day trade before cooling-off.

The top three gainers on the Sensex this afternoon were from auto sector - Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Maruti.

Bharti Tele, Tata Power, SBI, BHEL, Tata Steel, ONGC and Dr Reddy's Lab were the other top gainers on Sensex.

Power equipment major Siemens was also up by over three per cent trading over Rs 5,000 a share at Rs 5,019.

The top losers were HDFC, Larsen&Toubro, Hero Honda, TCS, ITC, Infosys, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, ICICI Bank, NTPC and Wipro.

Automobile, consumer durables and captial goods were the sectors making good gains this afternoon.

Infotech and FMCG companies were under pressure.

Moreover, midcap stocks were gaining, as compared to the frontline companies. The BSE midcap index was up by 0.75 per cent around 1300 hrs.

Midcap construction companies were in limelight this afternoon after the sops announced in the budget, led by Hindustan Constructions, Gammon India, Noida Toll Bridge, Nagarjauna Constructions and Jay Prakash Associates.

Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange S&P CNX Nifty index was trading three points down at 3,147 points at 1326 hrs.

Nifty earlier opened flat at 3,151.30 points, as compared to last close at 3,150.70.

Nagarjuna Construction was up by 12.16 per cent on the NSE.

touching a price of Rs 365 per share this afternoon at 1310 hrs.

The crude oil prices were up again at USD 63.62 per barrel, which seemed to be depressing the markets.

However, a healthy foreign fund inflow in the equity markets reported by SEBI was another big boost for the the investors. The Rs 576 crore inflow on Wednesday was a marked improvement from Rs 201 crore inflow on Tuesday and should support the markets at present level.

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