The Sensex opened on a flat note at 6,855. While early selective buying lifted the index to an intra-day high of 6,882, it soon slipped into the red to remain weak for most part of the trading session today. After languishing in negative territory till the mid-noon trades, the markets witnessed hectic activity thereafter. While buying in select heavyweights pulled the index from the lower levels, it soon lost ground on all-round selling pressure to plunge deep into the red to touch an intra-day low of 6,795.The Sensex finally ended above the 6,800 mark at 6,810 - a fall of 44 points over its last close. The Nifty, too, fell on selling pressure and declined 12 points to close at 2,142.The market breadth ended weak with 1,461 losers and 960 gainers, while 63 stocks remained unchaged.While only five Sensex stocks ended in the green, 25 stocks slumped today. Advancing shares clocked a volume of 12 lakh for Rs 100.91 crore, and declining shares registered a volume of 12.36 crore amounting to Rs 2,972.77 crore.Reliance, with a traded volume of over 17.56 lakh, dropped 1.57% (Rs 9) to Rs 578. HLL counter came under the hammering and tumbled 3.28% (Rs 5) to Rs 139, while ITC was down a per cent (Rs 12) at Rs 1,333.ICICI Bank lost 1.52% (Rs 6) to Rs 384, while HDFC Bank ended down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 604. SBI, which clocked a volume of over 13.39 lakh, also ended weak at Rs 734 - down Rs 3.Wipro and Satyam ended a per cent lower each at Rs 694 (down Rs 4) and Rs 412 (down Rs 4), respectively. Infosys, however, after a mixed outing, closed up a per cent (Rs 13) at Rs 2,227.Hero Honda moved up 1.89% (Rs 11) to Rs 575, while Tata Motors gained a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 465. While Bajaj shed 2% (Rs 23) to Rs 1,095, Maruti slipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 453.Gujarat Ambuja dipped 1.66% (Rs 7) to Rs 429. Other cement counter, too, ended lower with marginal losses. Bharti, which witnessed two huge block deals in early trades, shed gains on selling pressure to close 1.46% lower (Rs 3) at Rs 222. Over 11.36 crore shares changed hands on the BSE.Reliance Energy declined 1.68% (Rs 10) to Rs 566, and Tata Power lost 1.18% (Rs 5) to Rs 389. Tisco, too, dipped a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 438. Hindalco, however, gained 1.46% (Rs 21) to Rs 1,447.Jet Airways, which was listed today, opened at Rs 1,211 on the BSE. After touching an intra-day high of Rs 1,339 and a low of Rs 1,172, the stock finally closed at Rs 1,305 as against the IPO price of Rs 1,100 per share - a gain of 18.63%. Over 68.13 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE.Metal stocks were the star attractions of the day. Bhushan Steel soared nearly 10% (Rs 19) to Rs 211. While Essar Steel shot up 9.91% (Rs 5) to Rs 60, Uttam Galva notched up 9% gains (Rs 6) to Rs 69. ElectroSteel Castings, Ispat Industries, Sun Iron & Steel, Madras Aluminium, Lloyd Steel, Jindal Stainless and Nalco ended firm in a range of 2-8%. Man Industries, however, lost 5.38% (Rs 7) to Rs 125.Geometric Software, on reports of completing the acquisition of two US-based software firms, advanced 7.74% (Rs 36) to Rs 496. Other select tech majors, too, ended higher in a range of 2-3%.Sri Adhikar Brothers, which sold its SAB TV brand to Sony, dropped 5.83% (Rs 7) to Rs 108.Bharti topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 2,479 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 102 crore), SBI (Rs 98 crore) and Tisco (Rs 74 crore), respectively.
