Sensex drops 30pts

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of seven points at 7,818, and moved up to an intra-day high of 7,868 in morning deals. After moving in a narrow range for most part of the afternoon session, the index dropped into negative zone by late noon.

After touching a low of 7,761 - a drop of 107 points from the intra-day high - the Sensex finally closed with a decline of 30 points at 7,781.

ITC dropped nearly a per cent (Rs 11) to Rs 1,684. While Reliance was down Rs 3 at Rs 705, SBI slipped Rs 6 to Rs 805. ONGC, however, was firm right through the session, and gained Rs 13 to Rs 1,001.

Wipro was down nearly a per cent (Rs 5) at Rs 724. Infosys declined Rs 5 to Rs 2,292 and Satyam was down Rs 2 at Rs 511. TCS, however, moved up Rs 13 to Rs 1,326.

ICICI Bank dropped nearly 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 497. BHEL was down 1.7% (Rs 18) at Rs 1,074. Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Reliance Energy, Dr. Reddy's and Hindalco also declined.

Ranbaxy gained over 2% (Rs 12) to Rs 534. Maruti added over a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 480. ACC was up Rs 3 at Rs 472. L&T, Cipla, HDFC and Gujarat Ambuja also moved up today.

The broad market mood, however, was bullish - out of 2,633 scrips traded, 1,620 advanced, 961 declined and 52 were unchanged today.

The BSE SmallCap Index gained 1.6% (87 points) to 5,654. The BSE MidCap, Auto, Consumer Durables, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices also moved up today.