Sensex dips 200 pts after touching 12,671 mark

Mumbai, May 11: The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) touched a new high of 12,671 points in a volatile morning session.

The 30 share sensitive index (Sensex) swung more than 200 points, dipping to 12,458 in the morning trade after opening as investors booked profits soon after Reliance Petroleum was listed.

Earlier, Sensex opened higher at 12,631 points as compared to the last close of 12,612 points but then became volatile as Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) listing today took it forward to 12,671.

However, profit booking pulled it down to a low of Rs 12,458 before it stabilised around the 12,500 level.

Sensex traded at 12,510 points, down by 101.56 points around 11:30 hrs.

RPL made its grand debut today in the stock markets opening at Rs 101.95 on the BSE and at Rs 99.95 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Mukesh Ambani struck the gong at 0954 hrs in the BSE central hall marking the birth of RPL in the capital market this morning.

RPL touched a high of Rs 105 on the NSE before profit booking led it to slide below Rs 100.

With the RPL lisiting today, the marketcap of the Mukesh Ambani group crossed Rs 2 lakh crore mark.

Meanwhile, the NSE S&P CNX Nifty index was down by 28 points at 3,725 points around 1145 hrs.

All the sectoral indices were in the red this morning. BSE Oil and Gas index was down by 2.45 per cent, suffering maximum losses.

Reliance Industries was the big loser down by 3.30 per cent at Rs 1131.50 and ONGC too was down by 2.17 per cent at Rs 1452.30.

The other top losers were Tata Power, SBI, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Larsen&Toubro, Infosys, Hero Honda, and Satyam Computers.

The top gainers were Hindalco, HDFC, Reliance Energy, Wipro, ITC, NTPC, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Lever.

UNI