Sensex slips by 60.84 pts in volatile trade

Mumbai, Jan 29: The benchmark Sensitive index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today closed lower at 18,091.94 points with a small loss of 60.84 per cent from the last close of 18,152.78 in a choppy trade with the sentiment dampened as RBI kept key rates unchanged in its quarterly monetary policy review.

Earlier, the market had surged in early trade tracking firm Asian markets. Marketmen were expecting a 25 basis points repo rate cut by RBI following a sharp cut in US interest rates last week. 17 shares from the 30-member Sensex pack advanced. The market breadth was slightly positive. Shares from banking, auto and real estate declined, while software shares advanced. European markets, which opened after Indian market, were firm while Asian markets settled higher. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 60.84 points or 0.34 per cent to 18,091.94 at the closing session.

It opened with an upward gap of 194 points at 18,346.49 and rose further to touch a high of 18,491.06 in early trade. At the day's high, the Sensex had risen 338.28 points. It hit a day's low of 17,927.92 in afternoon trade.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE), however, was up around by six points or 0.13 per cent to close at 5,280.80 points from its last close, before it resumed higher at 5279.55 points. It recorded the day's a high and a low at 5391.60 and 5225.25 points respectively during the session.

The total turnover on BSE was Rs 4781 crore as compared to Rs 3536 crore, the previous day. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up by 0.35 per cent to 8,015.02 while the BSE Small-Cap index also rose by 0.72 per cent to 10,378.01.

India's biggest FMCG company in terms of sales, Hindustan Unilever surged by 4.31 per cent to Rs 207.95 on 1.96 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. Cipla was up by 3.71 pc to Rs 191.45, Tata Steel rose by 2.52 per cent to Rs 716, and ITC went up by 2.37 per cent to Rs 201 were the other gainers from the Sensex pack.

Software pivotals showed strength. Infosys Technologies flared up by 3.35 per cent to Rs 1495, Wipro was up by 1.55 per cent to Rs 412.50 and TCS rose by 0.80 per cent to Rs 861.

India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) was up marginally by 0.07 per cent to Rs 2565.80, off day's high of Rs 2622. 5.43 lakh shares changed hands on the counter in early trade on BSE. As per recent reports, RIL plans to foray in engineering, procurement and construction business to clock a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore in first year itself and double it in second year.

Banking shares slipped after an early surge. India's largest private sector bank in terms of net profit ICICI Bank lost by 3.90 per cent to Rs 1224 on 9.56 lakh shares. It was the top loser from Sensex pack. State Bank of India was down 3.54 per cent to Rs 2226, off day's high of Rs 2350 and HDFC Bank eased by 3.77 per cent to Rs 1525.25, off day's high of Rs 1635 were also subdued.

India's second largest bike manufacturer in terms of sales, Bajaj Auto staged a solid recovery in late trade after hitting a low of Rs 2300 earlier in the day. It settled 2.82 per cent lower at Rs 2390.

The stock had surged to Rs 2449 in early trade.

DLF was down by 0.75 per cent to Rs 885.80, Unitech eased by 5.69 per cent to Rs 387, and Parsvnath Developers slipped by 0.81 per cent to Rs 293.20.

Larsen&Toubro declined by 1.95 per cent to Rs 3769.45 followed by Bharati Airtel by 1.56 pc to Rs 865 and ACC by 1.02 per cent to Rs 790.50.

Maruti Suzuki India staged a sharp recovery from day's low of Rs 815.50. It closed with 0.21 per cent loss at Rs 860.80. The company today posted 24.07 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 467.04 crore on 27.23 per cent rise in total income from 27.23 per cent to Rs 4,844.8 crore crore in Q3 December 2007.

The market may see high volatility ahead of the expiry of January 2008 derivative contracts on January 31, brokers added.

UNI