Sensex down 3 pts; tech stocks decline

After resuming nine points lower over its last close at 7,298 and dropping lower on extended weakness, the Sensex soon rebounded into positive territory as buying commenced in most of the counters.

The Sensex advanced further in the first half to touch a new, all-time intra-day high of 7,352 on strong gains in banking, heavyweights and auto counters.

Selling pressure in the afternoon trades, mainly in tech stocks, dragged the markets into the red. The index tumbled below the 7,300-mark and touched a low of 7,218 - down 134 points from the day's high.

The Sensex, however, bounced back on renewed buying towards the fag-end, and eventually ended lower at 7,304 - down three points.

ONGC gained 1.78% (Rs 16) to Rs 941, and ITC shot up 2.32% (Rs 39) to Rs 1,744. Reliance ended higher at Rs 638 - up Rs 5.

ICICI Bank jumped 3.17% (Rs 14) to Rs 467. While SBI, after a mixed outing, finished higher at Rs 718 (up Rs 3), HDFC Bank slipped a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 658.

Tata Motors flared up 4% (Rs 18) to Rs 467. While Hero Honda moved up 2.69% (Rs 16) to Rs 608, Maruti added 2.14% (Rs 10) to Rs 456. Bajaj, however, lost 1.32% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,380.

ACC rose 2.16% (Rs 9) to Rs 421. Other cement majors also ended in the green with steady gains.

Infosys tumbled 4.12% (Rs 95) to Rs 2,220 after reporting a 37% rise in consolidated Q1 net profit. While TCS crashed 3.15% (Rs 42) to Rs 1,285, Wipro shed 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 702. Satyam was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 496.

Dr. Reddy's dropped 2.78% (Rs 22) to Rs 758, and Ranbaxy slipped a per cent (Rs 9) to Rs 1,052. Cipla, however, jumped 2.15% (Rs 7) to Rs 326.

Yes Bank, which got listed at Rs 65 (a premium of 44% over its issue price of Rs 45) on the BSE, rose to a high of Rs 70 during the intra-day trades. The counter, however, shed gains on profit-taking to close at Rs 61 on heavy volumes of over 2.61 crore on the BSE.