Sensex snaps 11-days winning streak

Mumbai, Oct 4: The 30-stock Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex snapped its 11-day winning streak today as weak global cues pulled down the benchmark index by 69.90 points to settle at 17,777.14 points, as institutional investors booked profits at higher levels in a volatile trading.

Markets entered into a bearish zone today, mainly because of the weak opening in the U S Markets and sharp decline in Asian markets, dealers said.

Reflecting the weak mood, the 30-stock BSE Sensex made a start at 17,799.63 points, touched the day's high of 17,890.49 points, nosedived by 395.99 points, to touch the day's low of 17494.70 points, before staging a smart recovery to finish at 17,777.14 points, netting a loss of 69.90 points from the previous close.

The S&P Cnx Nifty index at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also drifted lower by 2.15 points to close at 5208.65 points from the previous close of 5210.80 points.

Among the major Asian markets, Nikkei (Japan) was down 118 points at 17,082 and the Hang Seng (Hong Kong) crashed by 402 points to 27,077.

In U. S., the NYSE Composite index was down by 0.74 per cent at 10101.03 points followed by Nasdaq registering a decline of 0.64 per cent at 2729.43 and Dow Jones Industrial average finishing lower by 0.56 per cent at 13968.05 points.

Banking, IT, PSU, FMCG and Technology stocks have suffered badly in the profit booking, as it was seen in the fall of the sectoral indices.

The BSE Bankex index crashed by 137.66 points, followed by FMCG index declining by 9.53 points at 2148.25 points, BSE-IT index ended lower by 13.29 points at 4769, BSE-PSU drifted lower by 9.71 points at 8511.25 points and Technology index registering a fall of 18.21 poins at 3887.56 points.

However, the surge in the auto, Consumer Durable, Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Metal, Oil and Gas, Realty stocks resulted in a higher closing of the sectoral indices representing them at the BSE.

Tracking the sector wise movement, BSE Auto Index gained by 20.59 points at 5412 followed by Consumer durable advancing by 130.26 points at 4870.23 points, Consumer Goods rose by 184.13 points, Health care index moved up by 11.77 points at 3827, Metal index shot up by 223.35 points at 14384.87, Oil and Gas index advanced by 5.48 points at 10000.75 points, and the BSE Realty index gained by 26.06 points at 9801 points.

The Banking stocks were the biggest losers on the bourses today, on expectation that the Reserve Bank of India will raise the cash reserve ratio (CRR). ICICI Bank shed 3.06 per cent to Rs 1,061.35, and HDFC Bank was down 1.43 per cent to Rs 1,402 after their American depositary receipts fell 2.2 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, on Wednesday, 3 October 2007.State Bank of India declined 0.47 per cent to Rs 1,900.35.

NTPC (up 3.59 per cent to Rs 224.80) was the top gainer among the Sensex pack. It hit an all-time high of Rs 228.90 today. Other gainers were Tata Steel (up 2.94 per cent to Rs 864.75), Cipla (up 2.19 per cent to Rs 189.05),Reliance Energy (up 1.89 per cent to 1,477.85) and Maruti Suzuki (up 2.1 per cent to Rs 1,041.30) edged higher.

The largest private sector company and oil refiner Reliance Industries was up 1.21 per cent to Rs 2,422.55.

HDFC had lost 3.65 per cent to Rs 2,499.50. ONGC (down 3.77 per cent to Rs 985.95), ONGC (down 3.41 per cent to Rs 989.70 and was the top loser in the Sensex pack), Hindalco Industries (down 1.84 per cent to Rs 175.70) and Wipro (down 1.99 per cent to Rs 461.30) were the other losers from the Sensex pack.

Among the side counters, Ensa Steel Industries (up 59.55 per cent to Rs 6.35), Nagpur Power (up 19.93 per cent to Rs 65.30), AMD Multiplast (up 20 per cent to Rs 48.95), and Nava Bharat Ventures (up 20 per cent to Rs 279.15) were the major gainers.

Valecha Engineering (down 32.21 per cent to Rs 201.75), SPL Polymers (down 9.96 per cent to Rs 8.14), Link Pharma Chem (down 9.34 per cent to Rs 8.25), Dynemic Products (down 9.11 per cent to Rs 22.95) were the major losers.

Kaveri Seed Company was at Rs 230.10 on it debut on BSE, a premium of 35.35 per cent over the IPO price of Rs 170.

Jindal Steel&Power jumped 20.36 per cent to Rs 5,949.90 on reports that it will spend $600 million to build an electricity plant in Turkey.

Provisionally, as per National Stock Exchange (NSE) data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 2,662.06-crore equities, while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of Rs 221.73-crore equities yesterday.

The total turnover on the NSE was Rs 18592.65 crore today.

UNI