Profit-taking takes toll

STOCKS REPORT

Profit-taking in the last session led to the markets closing in negative territory. Snapping its three-session winning streak, the BSE Sensex closed at 5,564.33 points, down by 0.24 per cent (13.63 points) over its previous close.

The NSE S&P CNX Nifty was down by 8.85 points to close at 1,780.30.

The Sensex breached the 5,600 mark in intra-day trades, touching a high of 5,616.25 and a low of 5,550.52.

Opening firm, the market lost ground, witnessing a choppy mid-day session. It eventually lost ground on selling pressure.

Said a dealer from a local brokerage, "most index counters lost ground on profit taking after rising over the last few sessions."

He added that unwinding of positions ahead of the expiry in the derivatives segment tomorrow also had a effect on the cash markets.

Marketmen add that the sentiment appeared cautious ahead of the expiry of the December series futures contracts tomorrow. The market will remain closed on Thursday for Christmas.

Reflecting the sentiment of the market, the breadth turned negative towards the end with 923 stocks declining and 582 advancing.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers at Rs 284 crore and mutual funds were net buyers at Rs 66.8 crore on December 22.

Heavyweights ITC was down 1.01 per cent at Rs 975.30, Reliance Industries was down 0.64 per cent at Rs 523 and State Bank of India was down 0.39 per cent at Rs 506.45 contributing to the weakness of the Sensex.

Tech bellwether Infosys closed in the positive but other pivotals lost ground with Wipro and Satyam Computer ending with losses.

Infosys Technologies was up 2.46 per cent at Rs 5,460.10. Satyam Computer was down by 1.35 per cent at Rs 351.90 and Wipro was down by 1.27 per cent at Rs 1,654.45.

Hero Honda Motor was up 2.34 per cent at Rs 417.90 and Bajaj Auto hit a an all-time high of Rs 1,200 in the intra-day trades before closing at Rs 1,150.20, up 3.73 per cent over its previous close.

Zee Telefilms was up 4.54 per cent at Rs 158.90. Ranbaxy Labs was down 3.20 per cent at Rs 1,083.40.

ONGC was down 2.76 per cent at Rs 738.60. Reliance Energy was down 3.35 per cent at Rs 475.05.

MTNL was down 3.17 per cent at Rs 123.55 and BHEL was down 1.94 per cent at Rs 477.30.