Narrow range bound in select scrips

Mumbai, Oct 18 (UNI) The Sensex slipped to lower level but moved in a narrow range in the afternoon trade, a leading broker said.

Sensex was up by 20 points at 12,903, during mid-session, however it lowered to 12,877 at 1430 hrs.

It moved in a narrow range of 12,877 to 12,908 since early afternoon trade.

HDFC Bank (down 3 per cent to Rs 979) dropped for the second day in a row after announcing its Q2 results, which did not live up to expectations.

Housing finance major HDFC declined nearly three per cent to Rs 1,471. Wipro lost 2.3 per cent to Rs 561 strong Q2 results notwithstanding the company statement that the salary hike will impact margin by two per cent in Q3 December 2006.

Among other IT pivotals, TCS shed 0.5 per cent (PC) to Rs 1,107 and Satyam Computers lost nearly one per cent to Rs 446. But Infosys (up 0.6 pc to Rs 2,087) held firm.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped into the red.

RIL lost 0.1 per cent to Rs 1,214.85. The stock came off session's high of Rs 1,221. RIL will announce the Q2 results tomorrow.

Tata Steel (up 0.2 pc to Rs 516.70) was rangebound. The company on Tuesday made a USD 7.6 billion takeover of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group.

Ranbaxy firmed up further. The stock rose nearly 3 pc to Rs 422.55. Dr Reddy's Lab rose 1.6 pc to Rs 727. Engineering&construction major L&T rose 1.1 pc to Rs 1,305, ahead of its Q2 results tomorrow.

ICICI Bank gained 1.2 pc to Rs 736. It has a substantial 7.8% weightage in the Sensex.

Select sugar shares surged. Balrampur Chini Mills jumped 5% to Rs 105.65. The stock rose on heavy volume of 22.4 lakh shares. Bajaj Hindustan gained five per cent to Rs 334. 7.9 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

Exide Industries rose 1.5 per cent to Rs 39 after it reported a 50 per cent jump in net profit for Q2 September 2006 to Rs 43.74 crore (Rs 29.08 crore). Revenue rose 34 pc to Rs 451.19 crore (Rs 336.42 crore).

IPCA Labs rose 4.5 pc to Rs 410.55 after the company said its net profit doubled in Q2 September 2006 to Rs 35.40 crore (Rs 17.49 cr).

Total income rose 24.4 pc to Rs 244.48 crore (Rs 196.42 cr).

Glenmark Pharma jumped 16 per cent to Rs 384.50, after Germany's Merck licensed the diabetes drug to the Indian firm.

European markets opened on a firm note. Japanese and South Korean stocks closed higher erasing earlier losses sparked by renewed concerns about the U S economy and fears defiant North Korea will conduct a second nuclear test.

US crude was a little higher in Asia on Wednesday, hovering around USD 59 a barrel, but well off Tuesday's peak, brokers added.

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