A mixed trend prevailed in the early part of the trading session. After opening 11 points lower over its last close at 6,697, the index staged a smart recovery on selective buying to touch the day's high of 6,725.The market snapped gains immediately as weak trend prevailed through the session thereafter following steady to strong selling pressure.After dipping around 30-40 points in the first half, the index corrected further in the afternoon trades on near across-the-board selling pressure to touch an intra-day low of 6,643 - down 82 points from the day's high.The Sensex, after registering seven straight gains, finally ended 44 points lower at 6,664. The Nifty was down four points at 2,072.While 10 Sensex stocks advacned, 20 declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 25 lakh amounting to Rs 78.24 crore, and declining shares clocked a volume of 71 lakh for Rs 457.83 crore.The breadth of the market was very weak. Of 2,007 scrips traded on the BSE - 1,348 stocks declined, 608 advanced and 51 ended unchanged today.Tech and select heavyweight stocks scaled down today. Satyam, with a volume of over 14.20 lakh, tumbled 3% (Rs 14) to Rs 444. While Wipro slumped 2.48% (Rs 18) to Rs 706, Infosys (down Rs 4 to Rs 2,228) erased most of its losses on buying support. More than 2 lakh Infosys shares were traded.Reliance and ITC declined a per cent each to Rs 527 (down Rs 4) and Rs 1,558 (down Rs 13), respectively. Over 10.29 lakh Reliance shares changed hands.Banking, auto and cement stocks, too, ended in negative territory.ICICI Bank dropped 2.10% (Rs 8) to Rs 390, while SBI lost a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 662. HDFC Bank, however, ended with a rupee gain at Rs 540.Tata Motors plunged 2.24% (Rs 10) to Rs 432, and Hero Honda lost 1.64% (Rs 9) to Rs 569. Other auto majors, too, closed at lower levels.ACC lost nearly 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 375. While Grasim, too, ended weak at Rs 1,130 (down Rs 7), Gujarat Ambuja was up a tad at Rs 448.The other major losers L&T (down Rs 35 or 3.17% to Rs 1,060), Hindalco (down Rs 40 or 3.43% to Rs 1,133) and Bharti (down Rs 4 or 1.93% to Rs 221) came under sharp correction. BHEL, however, gained a per cent (Rs 9) to Rs 881.HLL, which clocked a volume of over 12.74 lakh, attracted considerable buying support and notched up 4.63% gains (Rs 6) to Rs 144. ONGC, too, bucked the downtrend and added a per cent gain (Rs 10) to Rs 910.Dr. Reddy's and Cipla finished in the green at Rs 718 (up Rs 3) and Rs 290 (up Rs 3), respectively. Ranbaxy, however, ended lacklustre at Rs 1,100 - down Rs 2.FMCG stocks firmed up on strong buying support. Shaw Wallace soared 8.47% (Rs 15) to Rs 187, and Nirma advanced 8.22% (Rs 30) to Rs 396. While Henkel Spic gained 3.90% to Rs 25, Marico moved up 2.66% to Rs 268. Radico Khaitan, Wimco, Godrej Consumers and Nestle ended 1-2% higher.Capital goods stocks, however, declined sharply. SKF lost 10.11% (Rs 23) to Rs 200, and Astra Mirco slipped 5% (Rs 65) to Rs 1,238. While Greaves Cotton dropped nearly 5% (Rs 7) to Rs 143, Gammon India lost 3.37% (Rs 10) to Rs 285. Usha Martin also ended in the red at Rs 79 - down 3.30%.Among the sectoral indices BSE Bankex index dropped 1.18% or down 45 pts to 3,762, while BSE Auto index lost a per cent to 2,814. BSE IT index, BSE Metal index and BSE Oil&Gas index, too, ended weak. BSE FMCG index, however, rose 1.10% (up 13 pts) to close at 1,189.
