Sensex slips by 59.41 points in afternoon trade

Mumbai, Feb 9 (UNI) Opening on firm note, the BSE Sensex drifted lower by 59.41 points and fall below the 14,700 mark, it had touched first time during the intra-day trading, on sustained profit booking from operators during afternoon trade today.

The S&P CNX Nifty index too traded lower by 38.65 points at 4,194.75 points from the previous close.

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. The benchmark index crashed by 230 points from the intra-day high to touch the low of 14,493.67 points and currently traded at 14,592.68 points from the previous close.

Index heavyweights which recorded sharp falls included Satyam Computer, Guj Ambuja, ACC, L&T, SBI, Tisco, Bharati Airtel.

Barring the Auto sector, almost all the sectors were down at the BSE on sustained profit booking, dealers said.

Auto major Bajaj Auto jumped nearly five per cent to Rs 3,156, after a newspaper reported that the company had put a demerger plan for separating manufacturing operations and investment assets on a fast track.

Reliance Industries rose 0.5 per cent to Rs 1,403.50. ONGC was the other gainer in an otherwise bearish market. The ONGC scrip gained 0.7 per cent to Rs 900.

Stock markets in Asia were up today while the US markets 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 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