Profit booking takes toll

STOCK REPORT

Profit booking in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Hindustan Lever, State Bank of India, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation led to the key indices ending down on Thursday.

The Sensex and Nifty had scaled new highs early in the day, with the former topping the psychological-important 7900 mark. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, up 3 per cent, was the top Nifty gainer.

The BSE Sensex closed at 7811.33, down 48.20 points from previous day's close. The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty fell 14.70 points or 0.6 per cent to close at 2388.45. Intra-day the Sensex touched a record high of 7921.39. The low was 7791.91.

The Nifty hit a record high of 2426.65, while the low was 2380.70. On the BSE, the declines outnumbered advances 1613:978. Across all groups, declines were over 50 per cent. The combined traded volume of both the exchanges was around Rs 10,400 crore.

However, dealers said the loss of over 100 points in the Sensex was no major cause for worry and that it was just a minor correction after two successive sessions of gains.

"The decline should be seen only as a technical correction and hence is not anything to worry about," said Praveen Mallik, vice-president, Rolta Shares.

"The market has been moving one way up, ignoring all the negative factors, and we expect this trend to continue," Mallik said.

But some amount of volatility is expected ahead of the August futures contract expiry August 25. Mahindra and Mahindra ended 1 per cent higher at Rs 700, with foreign funds being allowed by RBI to acquire up to 49 per cent equity in the company through open market operations. The stock had touched a high of Rs 741.90 earlier in the day.

Most cement shares ended firm while oil and metal shares ended down. Laggards in the Nifty included GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Tata Chemicals, HCL Technologies and Sun Pharmaceutical, each down 2%.

In key events, Tata Motors announced the acquisition of UK-based INCAT International for 53.4 million pounds in an all-cash deal. But the stock ended 0.28 per cent down at Rs 492.95.

The CNX Midcap Index closed at 3640.65, down 18.15 points or 0.5 per cent. Intra-day the index recorded a new high of 3698.25, while the low for the day was 3635.85.

Gammon India, Indian Rayon and Industries, and Goodlass Nerolac Paints were among the top mid-cap gainers, up over 5 per cent each. Sesa Goa, IndusInd Bank and Sundaram Fasteners featured among laggards, down 4 per cent each.