Rush to profit drives Sensex down 267 pts

Indian indices gave up much of yesterday's gains, and returned to the overall trend of decline for the week, as investors rushed to book profits from the last session's rise.

The market mood turned bearish on Friday as poor results from US technology companies set off declines across global markets, though the declines in Indian stock indices were nearly three times that in the rest of Asia and the US, at around 2.6 per cent. The Sensex closed at 10,086, and the Nifty at 2,933, both down 2.58 per cent.

"The big results for on Friday, ITC's and Satyam's, were both in line, or better than what was expected; but, with the bad global cues coming in, there was a fear of yesterday's gains disappearing, which led many traders to sell in early trade, leading to even bigger falls," said a Mumbai-based dealer.

Ranbaxy Laboratories, which had posted better than expected results yesterday, was among the three stocks which avoided ending in the red, while Satyam, which held up well during the early half of trading, was taken down in the bout of profit-booking. The stock closed 0.3 per cent down at Rs 687.

Foreign Institutional Investors, that had set off the current decline by booking huge profits in the early part of the week when the Sensex threatened the 11,000-mark, remained largely neutral on Friday, with net sales of around Rs 73 crore, against yesterday's net purchase of more than Rs 156 crore.