Sensex edges lower on profit- booking

STOCK REPORT

Profit booking saw the key indices give up the day's gains and end marginally lower on Wednesday. With this, the indices snapped 10 straight session of gains.

Dealers said, given the high levels, the correction did not come as a surprise. Zee Telefilms, up nearly 4 per cent, was the top Nifty gainer. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, down over 4 per cent, was the biggest loser.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended at 8189.48, down 4.48 points, or 0.1 per cent, over Tuesday, off the intra-day and new all-time high of 8260.01. It had touched a low of 8144.32.

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty closed at 2492.45, down 7.90 points, or 0.3 per cent. Intra-day, the Nifty had touched a record high of 2514.75.

In comparison, South Korea's Kospi ended 1 per cent up. Singapore's Straits Times and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended marginally up, while Taiwan and Japan shares ended down.

Losses in Oil and Natural Gas Corp., Tata Consultancy Services, and Reliance Industries, which have a higher weightage in Nifty, restricted the index.

Market breadth was negative, with nearly two out of three shares declining on the BSE.

GAIL (India), State Bank of India, Housing Development Finance Corp., ICICI Bank, Wipro, and Tata Motors ended up 2-3 per cent.

Hindalco Industries ended up nearly 3 per cent at Rs 150.25. The stock hit a new 52-week high of Rs 159. Dealers said interest in the stock had risen, ahead of the company's board meet on 20 September to consider a proposal to raise funds and rights share issue.

Srikant Chouhan, technical analyst at Kotak Securities, said that although the stock had hit Rs 159 level on positive sentiment, Rs 155-156 levels were the immediate resistance to the stock.

"The stock could touch Rs 172 in minimum 3 months," he said. In key developments, the government today said it hoped to complete the proposed 8 per cent divestment in Maruti Udyog Ltd. by the end of the current financial year to March.

Maruti share was up 1.6 per cent at Rs 529.95. It hit a new 52-week high of Rs 534.85 on the news.

Among key Nifty losers, Sun Pharmaceutical, Punjab National Bank, ABB, ITC, Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals, Reliance Energy, Tata Consultancy Services, and Tata Chemicals were down 2-3 per cent.

Sectorwise, most banking and automobile shares gained, while pharmaceutical and technology shares ended lower. The CNX Bank Index was up 0.4 per cent at 4424.80.

In the CNX Midcap Index, which ended down 0.6 per cent at 3810.70, Hinduja TMT was the biggest gainer, up 7 per cent. Hexaware Technologies, Sundaram Fasteners, HMT, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Shree Cements, Arvind Mills and Pantaloon Retail were down 3-4 per cent.

The CNX Midcap Index touched a new high of 3859.75. Dealers said today's marginal losses were due to profit-booking and did not expect any significant gains from these levels near-term.

"Investors are booking profits at such high levels and are expected to continue doing so. The valuations are looking stretched at these levels and market should cool off a bit to attract fresh buying," said Shiv Kumar Gupta, dealer at Jet Age Securities.

"The sessions could get more volatile as the forward contracts expiry approaches nearer. However, I do not expect any major correction," said Abhishek Gupta, dealer at Khandwala Securities.

"It was but natural for the profit booking to come in at these levels."

The Nifty had a good support at 2460, he said. He was bullish on public sector banks shares, Infosys Technologies and Videsh Sanchar Nigam.