Sensex down 19pts; Bajaj drops 6%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 19 points at 6,211, and moved in a narrow range in morning deals. The index slipped into negative zone in early noon deals, but bounced back soon and touched a high of 6,231.

The index could not hold the gains, and slipped back into the red once again and touched a low of 6,160 towards the closing bell. The Sensex finally closed with a loss of 19 points at 6,173.

While 19 index scrips declined with a volume of 62 lakh shares totalling Rs 341 crore, 11 advanced with a higher volume of 1.05 crore shares for Rs 434 crore.

Heavyweights finished on a weak note. ITC was down nearly a per cent (Rs 12) at Rs 1,240. Infosys declined Rs 7 to Rs 1,956. SBI dropped Rs 3 to Rs 581, and HLL was down a rupee at Rs 142. Reliance, however, was up Rs 2 at Rs 513.

ACC was firm right through the session, and closed with a gain of a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 365. While Gujarat Ambuja was also up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 445, Grasim was down 0.5% (Rs 7) at Rs 1,283.

Bajaj, which reported lower-than-expected Q3 numbers during trading hours, dropped 5.7% (Rs 62) to Rs 1,022. Maruti declined more than 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 408. Tata Motors was down 1.5% (Rs 7) at Rs 461. Hero Honda, however, was up 1.3% (Rs 7) to Rs 544.

While Satyam declined 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 359, Wipro was up 0.6% (Rs 4) at Rs 687.

Reliance Energy, which reported a 151% rise in Q3 net, moved up nearly 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 509. Zee gained more than 3% (Rs 5) to Rs 154. Cipla, HDFC Bank, L&T and Tisco also closed with gains today.

Ranbaxy dropped 1.3% (Rs 13) to Rs 999. BHEL, Bharti, ICICI Bank and HDFC also declined today.