Late selling drags Sensex down 41pts

Buoyant trend in global markets saw the Sensex open with a positive gap of 74 points at 14,278. All round buying saw the index rally to a high of 14,327. The index, thereafter, exhibited range-bound movement for major part of the trading.

Selling emerged in the last hour of trades and the index slipped into the negative zone. Heavy selling towards the fag end of the day saw the index slide to a low of 14,113 - down 214 points from the day's high.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 41 points at 14,163.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,569 stocks traded, 1,273 advanced, 1,212 declined and 84 were unchanged today.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

BHEL soared 3% to Rs 1,389. Maruti surged 1.6% to Rs 741.

Larsen & Toubro and Tata Motors advanced 1.2% each to Rs 1,948 and Rs 650, respectively.

Ranbaxy and Reliance Energy were up 1% each at Rs 374 and Rs 532, respectively.

Tata Steel and HDFC shed 2.3% each to Rs 600 and Rs 1,785, respectively.

NTPC tumbled nearly 2% to Rs 151. Grasim and Hindalco dropped 1.7% each to Rs 2,389 and Rs 161, respectively.

TCS and Satyam slipped around 1.5% each to Rs 1,184 and Rs 483, respectively.

Reliance and Dr.Reddy's were down 1% each at Rs 1,680 and Rs 632, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

MIC Electronics topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 155 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 128.70 crore), Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs 127.50 crore), ICRA (Rs 112.80 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 89.50 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 1.40 crore shares followed by G V Films (1 crore), IQMS Software (57.35 lakh), IKF Technologies (50.80 lakh) and Reliance Natural (45.65 lakh).