Sensex down 22pts, ONGC drops 3%

The Sensex opened on a flat note at 9,265, but moved up to an intra-day high of 9,309 in early deals. Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index drop to a low of 9,200 in late morning deals. After moving in a narrow range thereafter, a late bout of selling saw the Sensex finally close with a loss of 22 points (0.24%) at 9,242.

The sectoral indices finished on a mixed note. The BSE Metal Index zoomed over 2% (133 points) to 6,369. The BSE Bankex advanced 2% (98 points) to 5,065. The BSE Healthcare, FMCG and Auto indices also closed with gains.

The BSE Capital Goods Index dropped 1.6% (91 points) to 5,630. The BSE Oil & Gas Index declined 1.2% (53 points) to 4,278. The BSE Teck Index was down 0.71% (17 points) at 2,387.

Declines continued to be ahead of advances - out of 2,562 scrips traded, 1,561 declined, 914 advanced and 87 were unchanged today.

ONGC dropped 2.9% (Rs 34) to Rs 1,148. Reliance was down Rs 11 at Rs 860. 

Infosys declined over 2% (Rs 61) to Rs 2,886. While Wipro was down Rs 4 at Rs 445, Satyam also slipped Rs 4 to Rs 683. TCS, however, was up Rs 20 at Rs 1,688.

Gujarat Ambuja declined over 3% (Rs3) to Rs 81. ACC slipped over 2% (Rs 13) to Rs 545. Grasim was down Rs 31 at Rs 1,379.

L&T dropped Rs 44 to Rs 1,726. BHEL slipped Rs 19 to Rs 1,415. Bharti, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, Tata Motors and Maruti also declined.

Hindalco advanced 3.6% (Rs 5) to Rs 135. Tata Steel was up Rs 8 at Rs 378.

HDFC Bank gained 3% (Rs 22) to Rs 719. ICICI Bank was up Rs 9 at Rs 571.

Dr. Reddy's moved up Rs 25 (2.7%) to Rs 950. Ranbaxy added 2.4% (Rs 9) to Rs 399.

While Hero Honda was up Rs 7 at Rs 857, Bajaj was up Rs 5 at Rs 2,119.

Bombay Dyeing gained 9% (Rs 30) to Rs 379. SAIL added 7% to Rs 56. Torrent Pharma moved up 7% to Rs 879. Nicholas was up 5% at Rs 295.

Bank scrips logged gains today. Canara Bank zoomed 8% (Rs 16) to Rs 226. UTI Bank advanced 7% (Rs 19) to Rs 308. Allahabad Bank, PNB, BoB, Federal Bank and IDBI also finished with gains.

Reliance was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 424 crore followed by AIA Engineering (Rs 351 crore), Infosys (Rs 173 crore), SBI (Rs 127 crore) and VSNL (Rs 118 crore).