Pausing to catch breath

STOCKS REPORT

Banking, PSU and auto scrips were in the limelight in a lacklustre trading day on Tuesday. Profit taking was visible as the market traded in a narrow range, closing marginally lower than the breakeven.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex hit an intra-day high of 5,786.54 and a low of 5,741.70 before closing at 5,758.67, down 0.13 per cent (7.63 points) from Monday's close. Bluechips witnessed select profit taking but losses were capped, with 18 out of the 30-scrip Sensex closing lower.

The BSE Bankex index was the biggest gainer, up 1.96 per cent, followed by the PSU index, up 1.57 per cent and the Auto index gained 0.74 per cent.

The BSE Healthcare index was the biggest loser, down 0.70 per cent, followed by the Metal index, down 0.57 per cent and the FMCG index fell 0.52 per cent. The broader market reflected the weak sentiment on Tuesday, with losers outpacing gainer 11:9 on the BSE.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty index ended with a gain of 6.80 points at 1,812.45.

Brokers said select selling was seen as players traded cautiously after the rally in the last few days. Investors have been buying into bluechip counters in anticipation of strong earnings for the July-September quarter and some selling pressure was seen on Tuesday, players said.

They added that strong foreign fund buying has been instrumental in driving the market up. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 413.20 crore and domestic mutual funds were net buyers of Rs 34.30 crore on Monday.

Tata Motors was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, up 3.64 per cent to Rs 437.35, followed by Bharti Tele-Ventures, up 2.94 per cent to Rs 148.95, BHEL gained 2.65 per cent to Rs 604.50, ICICI Bank was up 1.96 per cent to Rs 297.15 and Zee Telefilms was up 1.89 per cent to Rs 159.25.

Hero Honda was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 2.12 per cent to Rs 444, followed by Cipla, down 1.89 per cent to Rs 294, L&T fell 1.68 per cent to Rs 859.75, HLL fell 1.57 per cent to Rs 125 and Tata Power was down 1.51 per cent to Rs 320.10.

Heavyweights such as State Bank of India gained 1.51 per cent to Rs 489.90 while ITC fell 0.14 per cent to Rs 1144.25 and Reliance Industries fell 1.20 per cent to Rs 539.60.

Turnover was marginally lower than on Monday in the cash segment of the bourses, the BSE reported a turnover of Rs 2,047.12 crore and the NSE reported a turnover of Rs 4,358.97 crore.