Profit booking pulls down Sensex from 14,700-mark

Mumbai, Feb 9 (UNI) Profit booking in index heavy-weights pulled down the BSE Sensex from the new high of 14,700 points to 14,613 points in the morning trade today.

The 30-stock Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) Sensitive Index(Sensex) opened firm at 14,684.35 points, surpassed the 14,700 mark by touching the new high of 14,723.88 points, fell to the low of 14,591.75 points and currently traded at 14,613.94 points, down by 38.15 points from the previous close.

The S&P CNX Nifty index at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also down by 14.50 points at 4,208.90 points from the previous close.

Barring the Auto sector, almost all the sectors were down at the BSE.

The possible split in auto major Bajaj Auto encouraged buyers at the counter, as a result of which shares of Bajaj Auto shot up.

Stock makrets in Asia were up today while the US Matkets recorded weakness yesterday.

The Nikkei was up 86.50 points at 17,378.98 as of 0016 GMT. The broad TOPIX index was up 0.71 per cent at 1,732.39.

Kawasaki Kisen, Japan's third-largest shipper, gained eight per cent to 1,127 yen, recovering from a decline of 4.2 per cent in the previous session when its earnings disappointed.

The Dow Jones industrial average(DJI) was down 86.92 points, or 0.69 percent, at 12,579.95. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was down 6.61 points, or 0.46 percent, at 1,443.41. The NASDAQ Composite Index was down 10.52 points, or 0.42 percent, at 2,479.98.

UNI