Sensex hits new peak at 9,945, but ends lower

STOCK REPORT

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex on Monday breached the 9,900 mark for the first time and later swung in a range of 142 points before ending 22 points lower at 9,849.03 in line with sustained foreign institutional investors (FII) inflows alternated by profit booking by local investors.

However, small-cap stocks came under a fresh onslaught of selling pressure and registered widespread losses.

Intially, the BSE's benchmark 30-share index (Sensex) spurted to a new record intra-trade high of 9,945.19 on the back of heavy purchases by FIIs.

The Sensex later failed to maintain its higher levels as domestic funds and operators resorted to profit booking and dragged it to the day's low of 9,803.68 before ending the day at 9,849.03 against Friday's close of 9,870.79, a net fall of 21.76 points or 0.22 per cent.

The BSE barometer had gained by over 400 points or 4.29 per cent in the preceding three sessions.

Crediting early price rally to a hefty net investments of Rs 1,366 crore in the futures by FIIs on January 27 and a firm trend in Japan market, brokers said operators and mutual funds turned negative as the market neared the 10,000 psychological barrier in early trade.

FIIs absorbed the sales made by local funds during the day, they added.

RIL attracted heavy buying interest and scored impressive gains. Remarkable gains in Dr Reddy's Lab, HDFC, Wipro, Grasim and HDFC bank contributed positively to mitigate the Sensex's downslide.

GACL too witnessed brisk activity following Rs 2,100 crore deal with the company by Swiss cement major Holcim for acquiring 20 crore equity shares at a price of Rs 105 per share and followed an open offer agreement with shareholders.

The broad-based BSE-100 index eased by 19.33 points to 5,186.76 from previous close of 5,206.09.

The BSE-200 index and the dollex 200 were quoted down at 1,243.14 and 468.90 at close compared with last weekend's close of 1,248.86 and 470.94 respectively.

The BSE-500 index dipped by 23.16 points to 3,982.17 from previous close of 4,005.33 and the dollex-30 ended lower at 1831.91 from 1,835.54.

The volume of business dropped sharply to Rs 3,617.83 crore from Rs 4,603.17 crore on Friday. RIL was the top traded scrip with the highest turnover of Rs 195.10 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 136.50 crore), SBI (Rs 124.57 crore), GACL (Rs 118.08 crore) and Rel Capital (Rs 116.18 crore).