Sensex down 7pts, SBI drops 3%

The Sensex opened with a marginal positive gap of three points at 9,349, but moved up to a high of 9,423 in late morning deals. After moving in a narrow range thereafter, the Sensex dropped to a low of 9,273 in late noon deals - an intra-day swing of 150 points. Buying at lower levels saw the Sensex finally close with a loss of seven points at 9,339.

The sectoral indices finished on a mixed note. The BSE Bankex dropped over 1% (52 points) to 5,065. The BSE Metal Index was down 14 points at 6,452. The BSE Teck, PSU FMCG and Capital Goods indices also declined.

The BSE Healthcare Index was up 0.5% (16 points) at 3,067. The BSE Oil & Gas Index also moved up 0.5% (21 points) to 4,304. The BSE Consumer Durables and Auto indices also finished with gains.

Declines moved ahead of advances - out of 2,524 scrips traded, 1,289 declined, 1,144 moved up and 91 were unchanged today.

Hero Honda advanced 3.9% (Rs 32) to Rs 873. Bajaj gained Rs 11 to Rs 2,095.

Ranbaxy was firm right through the session, and closed with a gain of over 2% (Rs 8) at Rs 364.

HDFC added Rs 28 (2.3%) to Rs 1,269.

ACC dropped over 3% (Rs 17) to Rs 543. While Grasim declined Rs 14 to Rs 1,355, Gujarat Ambuja was down a rupee at Rs 81.

SBI slipped 2.7% (Rs 25) to Rs 907. ITC was down Rs 2 at Rs 141. While ONGC was up Rs 7 at Rs 1,160, Reliance added Rs 5 to Rs 860. HLL was up a rupee at Rs 196.

Wipro dropped 1.7% (Rs 8) to Rs 458. TCS declined Rs 6 to Rs 1,686. Infosys was up Rs 6 at Rs 2,973.

Sterlite Opticals zoomed over 11% (Rs 10) to Rs 100. Visualsoft gained over 10% (Rs 24) to Rs 255.

Bank scrips declined today. Bank of Baroda dropped 3% (Rs 7) to Rs 246. BoI declined 3% to Rs 128. Union Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank and OBC also declined.

HDFC was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 228 crore followed by Kernex Micro (Rs 184 crore), Everest Kanto (Rs 173 crore), SBI (Rs 165 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 145 crore).