Sensex down by 59 pts, closes at 13,786.91 pts

Mumbai, Dec 29 (UNI) The Sensex today slid by 59.43 points to close lower at 13,786.91 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on the last trading day of 2006 as selling pressure pulled the Sensex below the 13,800 mark.

The Sensex index has crashed by 72 points in the last two days.

After a firm opening, The market kept on declining throughout the day.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex lost 59.43 points to 13,786.91. It had opened higher at 13873.03, following a smooth rollover from December 2006 derivatives contracts to January 2007 contracts.

It also touched an intra-day high of 13,929.10 points, as buying continued. The Sensex had slipped to a fresh low of 13,770.06, in late afternoon session.

The BSE OIL&GAS and BANKEX indices also declined by 27.01 points and 14.29 points respectively. They closed at 6179.60 points for OIL&GAS index and for BANKEX index at 7085.73 points, followed by IT index by 10.87 points and touched 5272.56 points. TECK index was down by 10.27 points and closed at 3650.63 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE lost 4.15 points or 0.10 per cent to 3966.40 points before it resumed high at 3971.65 points. It recorded a high and a low at 3991.60 points and 3960.45 points respectively in intra day.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3419 crore as compared to Rs 4193 crore on Thursday.

The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1386 shares advancing as compared to 1233 shares that declined. 71 shares were unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 22 declined while the rest advanced.

The Nikkei 225 index finished just 0.01 per cent higher at 17,225.83. This marked its highest close since early May. The benchmark ended 2005 at 16,111.43. Tokyo's Nikkei share average ended 2006 with a 6.9 per cent gain for the year, marking its fourth straight year of growth and its longest bull run in nearly two decades.

US stocks finished marginally lower on Thursday as investors sold off recent outperforming stocks to lock in some profits ahead of the year-end. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 9.05 points, or 0.07 percent, to end at 12,501.52.

The Standard&Poor's 500 Index dipped 2.11 points, or 0.15 percent, to finish at 1,424.73.

The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 5.65 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 2,425.57.

Crude oil for February delivery rose as much as 39 cents to .73 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil for February settlement gained 28 cents to USD 60.80 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures exchange, brokers said.

FMCG major HLL was the top loser, down by 1.82 per cent to Rs 216.30 on 13.47 lakh shares. Reliance Communications (RCL) declined by 1.34 per cent to Rs 471 on 14.19 lakh shares. Tata Motors (down 1.36 per cent to Rs 893), ONGC (down 1.20 per cent to Rs 867) and Gujarat Ambuja Cements (down 1.15 per cent to Rs 141.90) were the other losers.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 0.52 per cent to Rs 1270 on 7.45 lakh shares. It has slipped from high of Rs 1288.40. Punjab National Bank (down 1.30 per cent to Rs 506).

Indian Overseas Bank (down 0.30 per cent to Rs 111.70), Bank of Baroda (down 1.82 per cent to Rs 240.15), Oriental Bank of Commerce (down 2.46 per cent to Rs 226.30), HDFC Bank (down 0.86 per cent to Rs 1069.70), Canara Bank (down 0.15 per cent to Rs 275) and ICICI Bank (down 1.10 per cent to Rs 889) registered a downward trend.

However, Tata Steel was the top gainer, up 1.76 per cent to Rs 484.90 on expectations there will be further consolidation in the steel industry.

Dr Reddy's Lab gained 1.43 per cent to Rs 811 after it received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for cholesterol-lowering simvastatin tablets. Simvastatin is the generic equivalent of Merck&Co. Inc.'s blockbuster drug Zocor.

Cement major ACC gained 1.05 per cent to Rs 1085 on 1.65 lakh shares. It moved in range of Rs 1072.10 -1098.90.

SBI (up 0.75 per cent to Rs 1245.35), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 5.35 per cent to Rs 399.90), Bank of India (up 0.80 per cent to Rs 207) were among gainers.

The trading on BSE and NSE will remain officially closed on January one, 2007 for Bakri-Id, traders said.

UNI