Sensex down 4pts, Reliance up 2%

The Sensex opened on a firm note at 7,374 - up 27 points over its previous close of 7,347. Extended buying support in select counters saw the index touch a new, intra-day high of 7,393 in early trades.

The market, thereafter, steadily came off its highs as profit-taking trimmed gains. Lack of fresh buying saw the index exhibit a positive, range-bound trend before a sharp fall in select old and new economy stocks towards the closing bell saw the index tumble to a low of 7,334.

The Sensex finally closed the session with a loss of four points at 7,343.

While 16 Sensex stocks advanced, 14 declined today. Advancing shares clocked a volume of 70 lakh for Rs 340 crore, and declining shares accounted for a volume of 27 lakh for Rs 134 crore.

The BSE Oil & Gas Index was up over a per cent (49 points) to 3,441. The BSE Metal Index was up 0.8% to 5,790. The BSE MidCap Index, the BSE SmallCap Index and the BSE PSU Index also closed with gains.

The overall market breadth was positive - out of 2,592 scrips traded on the BSE, 1,488 advanced, 1,053 declined and 51 were unchanged today.

Infosys lost 1.11% (Rs 25) to Rs 2,233, and TCS was down a per cent (Rs 9) at Rs 1,308. Satyam, however, rose 1.34% (Rs 7) to Rs 504.

Reliance moved up 2.11% (Rs 14) to Rs 679, and ONGC added Rs 4 to Rs 920. ITC declined 1.41% (Rs 24) to Rs 1,672.

HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank ended marginally lower at Rs 637 and Rs 440, respectively. SBI, however, ended in the green at Rs 724.

ACC, which rose 4% yesterday, settled with a loss of 1% (Rs 5) at Rs 438. While Gujarat Ambuja, too, ended marginally weak at Rs 61, Grasim bucked the downtrend and jumped 3% (Rs 34) to Rs 1,175.

Hero Honda, continuing with its yesterday's slump, shed 3% (Rs 21) to Rs 615. Bajaj and Tata Motors were down a per cent each at Rs 1,390 (down Rs 12) and Rs 470 (down Rs 6), respectively. Maruti, however, ended with steady gains at Rs 460.

HDFC tumbled 2% (Rs 20) to Rs 880, and Bharti also dropped 2% (Rs 5) to Rs 250.

BHEL moved up 2% (Rs 18) to Rs 939, and L&T was up 1% (Rs 10) at Rs 1,296.

Pharma scrips firmed up on strong buying support. Sun Pharma gained 4% to Rs 649. Novartis moved up 3% to Rs 588. Veronica Labs zoomed 20% to Rs 11. Gufic Biosciences vaulted 19.92% (Rs 5) to Rs 29. While Morepen Labs was up 6.64% to Rs 8, Aurobindo Pharma added 3.98% (Rs 14) to Rs 362. Vimta Labs, Wyeth, Aarti Drugs, Merck and Abbott India were up in the range of 2-3% each.

Biocon, which reported a 20% dip in Q1 net, dropped 3.22% (Rs 15) to Rs 437.

Zigma Software topped the volume chart with trades in over 4.01 crore shares followed by Petronet (1.39 crore) and Himachal Futuristic (1.25 crore).

Reliance was the most active counter with a turnover of over Rs 115 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 94 crore) and Petronet (Rs 72 crore).