Sensex ends lower by 73.91 points

Mumbai, Dec 4: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index today declined by 73.91 points to close at 19,529.50 in a choppy trade, marked by fall in heavyweight stocks.

After continuous three days of positive move, the market witnessed consolidation today and ended in red during late trade. However, the mid cap and small cap ended on positive notes, traders said.

Traders opined that heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank fell, which turned the market in negative zone even as Select IT stocks ended weak. Tata Steel soared along with Metal, consumer goods and auto stocks, gaining 1 to 3.2 per cent.

The benchmark Sensex today kicked off with a positive gap of more than 100 points at 19,707.59 as compared to previous close of 19,603.41 during the early trade. Amid lacklustre movement for most of the trading day, the Sensex touched day's low of 19,482.34 during the late trade sheding down 226 points from the day's open.

Similarly, the broader S&P CNX Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 6.65 points down at 5,858.35.00 from previous close of 5,865.00. Nifty opened firm at 5870.20 and amid tight movements in the market touched day's high of 5,897.25 and a low of 5,840.30 during the day trade.

Moreover, the market breadth was strong. 19 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack ended in red. Key Asian markets, except Singapore, were in green and European markets were in red.

On BSE, 1932 stocks advanced, 884 stocks declined and 48 stocks remained unchanged. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 9,111 crore.

Reliance Industries fell 2.46 pc to Rs 2860.20. The stock came off session's high of Rs 2960. ICICI Bank was down 1.92 pc to Rs 1142.90, TCS fell 2.20pc to Rs 1028.95, Satyam Computers fell 1.16pc to Rs 442.80, ONGC was down 1.11pc to Rs 1158.60, Ranbaxy Laboratories declined by 1.35 pc to Rs 368.95 and Bharti Airtel moved down by about one percent to Rs 916.10.

Among the major gainers, Tata Steel soared 4.15 pc to Rs 874.60 after the chief of its Corus unit said the firm was planning to lift prices next year.

Mahindra&Mahindra gained 2.58 pc to Rs 770.25, followed by Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 2.13pc to Rs 2820, Larsen&Toubro gained 1.30pc to Rs 4230 and Ambuja Cements went up by 0.95 pc to Rs 153.50.

UNI