High crude prices cause sensex to plummet 72 pts

Mumbai, July 13: The BSE sensitive index (Sensex) tumbled 71 points to close at 10858.50 points as crude oil prices today touched a high of USD 75 per barrel. Weak global bourses also led to a decline of the domestic markets.

US crude futures climbed 27 cents to USD 75.22 per barrel in Asia trading. Oil prices surged near a record high after a sharp fall in US crude stocks, leading to a sharp decline in the Oil&Gas, and Auto scrips on the BSE. IT scrips also closed in the red, but FMCG, Metals, Midcap and Smallcap sectors ended positive.

Metals scrips were up inspired by the strong performance at the London Metals Exchange (LME). Hindalco surged 1.48 per cent to Rs 182.30.

On the whole, the market today swung 125 points touching a high of 10922.61 and a low of 10797.49 in the intra day trade today.

Major gainers on the index were HLL, Grasim Industries, Cipla, ICICI, Hindalco, ACC, Reliance Communications and Maruti Udyog, all up between 0.08 to 2.59 per cent.

The losers were Infosys, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto, TCS and Reliance Energy, all down between 1.20 to 3.09 per cent. Infosys was down by 50.08 per cent today.

Major gainers on the index were HLL up by 2.59 per cent to Rs 243.65, Grasim Industries up by 2.13 per cent to Rs 2039.50, Cipla up by 1.82 per cent to Rs 226.45, ICICI up by 1.55 per cent to Rs 496.10, Hindalco up by 1.48 per cent to Rs 182.30, ACC was up by 0.37 per cent at Rs 838.55, Reliance Communications was up by 0.19 per cent at Rs 268.50 and Maruti Udyog was up by 0.08 per cent at Rs 814.05.

The losers were Infosys down by 50.08 per cent at Rs 1680.75, HDFC was down by 3.09 per cent to Rs 1165.40, Bharti Airtel was down by 3.00 per cent to Rs 371.30, Wipro was down by 2.64 per cent to Rs 502.80, HDFC Bank was down by 2.35 per cent to Rs 747.25, Reliance Industries was down by 2.12 per cent to Rs 1075.10, Hero Honda was down by 2.03 per cent to Rs 710.20, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.52 per cent to Rs 2705, TCS was down by 1.31 per cent to Rs 1868.15 and Reliance Energy was down by 1.20 per cent to Rs 443.60.

The breadth in the broader market was positive today. There were 1314 advances against 1084 declines out of total 2476 scrips traded on the BSE.

UNI