In the negative zone

STOCKS REPORT

Markets corrected on aggressive selling as blue chip as well as mid-cap stocks witnessed profit booking.

The Sensex opened on a bearish note and gradually moved lower as investors booked profit virtually across the board.

The benchmark Sensex slipped from its day's high of 7175.15 to finally closed at 7049, down 102.08 points. The Nifty ended 29.95 points higher to close at 2169.8.

A dealer with a leading broking firm said, "Profit booking was witnessed across the board after a sharp upward rally in the past few days. External factors such as rising crude prices and falling global markets dampened the sentiment, as uncertainty looms large on continuation of foreign inflows."

Liquidity provided by the FIIs are driving the markets of late. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 275.6 crore on Monday, while domestic mutual funds were net sellers to the tune of Rs 88.36 crore.

The breadth of the market was negative with 2,029 stocks declining as against 483 advancing. Of the 30 shares BSE basket, only 10 stocks ended positive. The volumes accounted for Rs 2,858.02 crore on BSE and Rs 5,466.77 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Among the big losers in frontline stocks, Tata Steel was down 4.92 per cent to Rs 342.30, Gujarat Ambuja Cement lost 3.86 per cent to Rs 59.85, Tata Motors lost 3.74 per cent to Rs 416.55, Reliance India down 2.98 per cent to Rs 629.10 and ITC was down 2.69 per cent to Rs 1,591.40, Ranbaxy was down 2.5 per cent to Rs 1,054.8 per cent, BHEL was down 2.32 per cent to Rs 847.00, Reliance Energy was down 2.29 per cent to Rs 625.15, Wipro ended 2.15 per cent lower to close at Rs 740.20.

BSE Metal index was the biggest loser, down 2.98 per cent to 5534.09, followed by the BSE Oil & Gas index, down 2.03 per cent to 3429.31 and the BSE Auto index lost 1.71 per cent to 2943.05.

Among the Oil & Gas index scrips, the top losers were Bongaigaon Refineries, down 3.36 per cent to Rs 368.10, IBP, down 2.25 per cent to Rs 473.90, BPCL, down 1.77 per cent to Rs 695.75, MRPL, down 1.61 per cent at Rs 45.75 and Petronet LNG, down 1.32 per cent to Rs 41.05. The top gainer was Kochi Refineries, up 0.57 per cent to Rs 159.45.

Auto sector stocks witnessed profit booking with Hero Honda shedding 2.88 per cent to Rs 585.25, TVS Motors, down 1.74 per cent to Rs 76.25, Kinetic Engineering, down 1.56 per cent to Rs 97.50, Escorts, down 1.42 per cent to Rs 86.90 and Eicher Motors, down 0.25 per cent to Rs 304.75.

Among the top gainers were "" Swaraj Mazda, up 5.57 per cent to Rs 375.05, Hindustan Motors was up 3.67 per cent to Rs 32.50, HMT was up 2.09 per cent to Rs 46.30, Maharashtra Scooters was up 1.77 per cent to Rs 224.10 and Maruti Udyog was up 1.20 per cent at Rs 477.55.

Among the top losers in the IT sector, Teledata Inform was down 10.50 per cent to Rs 25.15, Hexaware Tech, down 5.88 per cent to Rs 135.30, Rolta, down 5.72 per cent to Rs 124.55.

Among the top gainers in this sector, Zenith Infotech was up 4.09 per cent to Rs 30.55, Mascon Global was up 2.96 per cent to Rs 19.10, Financial Technology was up 2.38 per cent to Rs 440.20, SPEL Semiconductors was up 1.95 per cent to Rs 20.90 and KLG Systel was up 1.30 per cent at Rs 93.50.

Among the top losers in the Bankex were Bank of Baroda, down 3.95 per cent to Rs 198.25, Canara Bank, was down 3.5 per cent to Rs 210.85, Karur Vysya Bank, down 3.11 per cent to Rs 435.85 and UTI Bank, down 2.53 per cent to Rs 236.55.

The top gainers were""Union Bank, up 2.5 per cent to Rs 106.80, Vijaya Bank, up 1.27 per cent to Rs 60, State Bank of Mysore, up 1.05 per cent to Rs 2,554, ICICI Bank, up 0.06 per cent to Rs 417.45 and Andhra Bank, up 0.05 per cent at Rs 96.25.