Mkt shrugs off $8bn Tata deal, Sensex slips 14pts

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 32 points at 12,756. Fresh buying in the opening trades backed by better-than-expected Reliance Q2 numbers and hopes of positive news flow from Tata Steel saw the index rally to a high of 12,849.

The index, thereafter, displayed lacklustre movement for most part of the trading. Even the big news that Tata Steel will buy Corus for over $8 billion did not have any major impact on the Sensex.

Late selling saw the index tumble to a low of 12,680 - down 169 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally settled with a marginal loss of 14 points at 12,709.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,515 stocks traded, 1,293 advanced, 1,132 declined and the rest were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Tata Steel hit a high of Rs 521 after the announcement of the Corus deal. The stock finally closed up 1.2% at Rs 508.

Reliance Energy gained 1.6% at Rs 460. Bharti Airtel and Wirpo added over 1% each to Rs 497 and Rs 556, respectively.

Satyam plunged nearly 3% to Rs 428. ITC shed 2.5% to Rs 186.

Bajaj Auto slipped 1.7% to Rs 2,742. Dr.Reddy's was down 1% at Rs 725.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Tech Mahindra topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 301 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 179 crore), Reliance (Rs 157.50 crore), debutant Hanung Toys (Rs 115 crore) and Hindustan Zinc (Rs 69.75 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 1.35 crore shares followed by Hanung Toys (1.20 crore), Nandan Exim (56.37 lakh), SAIL (43.70 lakh) and Tech Mahindra (36 lakh).