Sensex down 25pts; Hero Honda zooms 5%

The Sensex opened marginally lower at 7,143 and moved up to a high of 7,156 in early deals. Profit-taking commenced soon after, and the index dropped to a low of 7,090 in early noon deals.

After moving in a narrow range for most part of the noon session, the Sensex finally closed with a loss of 25 points (0.36%) at 7,120.

While 17 index scrips declined with a volume of 90 lakh shares for Rs 604 crore, 13 advanced with a volume of 1.18 crore totalling Rs 452 crore.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Auto Index was up over a per cent (35 points) at 2,911. The BSE Metal, Bankex, Healthcare, FMCG, PSU, Midcap and Smallcap indices closed with marginal gains today.

The broad market turned positive - out of 2,535 scrips traded, 1,290 advanced, 1,174 declined and 71 remained unchanged today.

Infosys dropped nearly 2% (Rs 47) to Rs 2,343. TCS declined over 2% (Rs 27) at Rs 1,306. Wipro and Satyam also finished in negative zones.

ONGC was down Rs 6 at Rs 953, and Reliance slipped Rs 5 to Rs 651.

HDFC declined 2% (Rs 18) to Rs 854. Reliance Energy was down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 646.

Hero Honda advanced 4.8% (Rs 27) to Rs 581. Bajaj Auto moved up 3% (Rs 41) to Rs 1,312.

SBI moved up over 3% (Rs 22) to Rs 683. ACC gained Rs 4 to Rs 387. Ranbaxy was up 1.7% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,098.

Bank and auto scrips logged gains today. BoI moved up 6% to Rs 101. IDBI was also up 6% at Rs 112. Andhra Bank, Union Bank, IndusInd Bank, OBC, PNB and Kotak Bank also moved up.

TVS Motors advanced 5% to Rs 77. M&M, Tata Motors, Apollo Tyres, Sundram Fasteners, Escorts, and MRF also finished with gains today.

Reliance Capital was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 215 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 196 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 138 crore).