Blue-chips offloaded

STOCKS REPORT

Volatility played a role on Friday as the benchmark Sensex fell by a marginal 3.47 points to close at 4,870.58.

Moving in a range of 83 points, the Sensex traded in negative territory for most of the session yesterday, hitting a high of 4,895.48 points and a low of 4,813.16 points in intra-day trades.

The breadth of the market was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 8:7 on the BSE but the 30-scrip Sensex basket saw 17 scrips closing lower.

Brokers said that while blue-chip scrips witnessed selling pressure, there was select buying in the broader market.

Said a dealer from a local brokerage, "Investors are now awaiting the Union Budget to give direction to a lacklustre market." Bargain buying at lower levels helped the market recover somewhat from the day's low.

The BSE FMCG index was the biggest gainer on Friday, up 0.74 per cent, followed by the TECk index, up 0.57 per cent and the consumer durables index gained 0.24 per cent. The BSE Bankex was the biggest loser on Friday, falling 0.84 per cent, followed by capital goods index, down 0.55 per cent.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 3.42 per cent to close at Rs 275.30, followed by HPCL, down 2.99 per cent to Rs 329.10 and Zee Telefilms fell 2.70 per cent to Rs 124.20.

Bharti Tele-Ventures was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, gaining 3.16 per cent to Rs 143.65, followed by ITC, up 2.57 per cent to Rs 909.85 and Cipla gained 2.01 per cent to Rs 217.75.

Heavyweights Reliance Industries fell 0.98 per cent to Rs 434, HLL was down 0.35 per cent Rs 126.95 and the State Bank of India scrip gained 0.53 per cent to Rs 445.20.

Volumes were lower in the cash segment of the bourses, turnover of Rs 1,835.99 crore was reported on the BSE and Rs 4,365.79 crore on the NSE.

HDFC Bank was down 1.79 per cent to Rs 364.95 and ICICI Bank was down 1.13 per cent to Rs 244.95.

Tata Power fell 1.75 per cent to Rs 236.10 while Reliance Energy gained 0.14 per cent to Rs 569.55.

Wipro was down 1.51 per cent to Rs 527 and Infosys Technologies was up 1.12 per cent to Rs 1,425.25.

Hero Honda was up 1.39 per cent to Rs 511.65, Maruti Udyog and Bajaj Auto closed almost flat while Tata Motors fell 1.05 per cent to Rs 385.30.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares on Thursday at Rs 145 crore while mutual funds were net sellers at Rs 30.70 crore on Thursday.