Sensex drops 37 pts at close

The markets tumbled from higher levels in late morning deals and remained weak thereafter. While selling pressure continued in the afternoon trades; steep slide in tech, heavyweight, cement and other select old economy stocks towards the closing bell saw the index slump below the crucial 6,400-mark to touch an intra-day low of 6,396.

The Sensex finally ended lower above the psychological mark at 6,414 - down 37 points from the Tuesday's close. The Nifty lost 10 points to 2,035.

While only six Sensex stocks advanced, 23 declined and one remained unchanged today. Advancing shares registered a volume of 72 lakh for Rs 338.80 crore, and declining shares accounted for a volume of 89 lakh for Rs 502.13 crore.

The market breadth was weak with 717 stocks advancing and 1,144 stocks declining.

Infosys declined 1.55% (Rs 33) to Rs 2,083. While Satyam, with a volume of over 14.8 lakh, lost 2.36% (Rs 10) to Rs 407, Wipro was down 1.76% (Rs 14) at Rs 756.

SBI declined 1.48% (Rs 9) to Rs 594, with a volume of over 11.5 lakh on the BSE. While ICICI Bank was down 1.45% (Rs 5) at Rs 360, HDFC Bank ended with a small loss of Rs 2 at Rs 493.

ITC ended Rs 6 lower at Rs 1,303, and HLL was down a rupee at Rs 143. Reliance, with a volume of over 44.68 lakh on the BSE, attracted considerable buying support and advanced nearly 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 495.

Grasim declined 2.55% (Rs 33) to Rs 1,277. While Gujarat Ambuja slipped 2.24% (Rs 9) to Rs 386, ACC was down a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 316.

Dr. Reddy's was down 1.27% (Rs 11) at Rs 850 and Cipla lost 2% (Rs 6) to Rs 304. Ranbaxy, however, closed up a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,257.

Bajaj moved up 1.81% (Rs 20) to Rs 1,119, and Maruti added 2.11% (Rs 10) to Rs 469. Tata Motors, however, was down Rs 2 at Rs 502.

Zee dropped 3.41% (Rs 6) to Rs 173. Bharti, however, added 2.16% (Rs 4) to Rs 204.

Select bank stocks attracted buying support. Union Bank moved up 4.19% (Rs 4) to Rs 111. While Andhra Bank gained 3.67% (Rs 3) to Rs 80, Corporation Bank added 2.14% (Rs 7) to Rs 346. BoI and Uco Bank were up a per cent each at Rs 82 and Rs 25, respectively. Oriental Bank, however, lost 2.27% (Rs 8) to Rs 327, and PNB was down 1.61% at Rs 370.

Ramco System added 2.68% (Rs 12) to Rs 464, and Geometric was up 2.15% at Rs 383.

IDBI Bank jumped 5.80% (Rs 3) to Rs 57, and IDBI moved up 5.52% (Rs 6) to Rs 108. While Crompton Greaves added 5% (Rs 14) to Rs 284, Neyveli Lignite advanced 3.84% to Rs 70. Kochi Refineries and Tata Elxsi were up nearly 3% each at Rs 230 and Rs 160, respectively.

Select capital goods and FMCG scrips lost ground on selling pressure. Tata Honeywell dropped 3.84% (Rs 24) to Rs 594. While Alstom Project dipped 3.65% (Rs 6) to Rs 158, HMT slipped 3.61% to Rs 43. Graphite Industries declined 3.37% to Rs 116, and Praj Industries lost 3% to Rs 280.

Shaw Wallace slumped 4.98% (Rs 9) to Rs 165, and United Breweries scaled down 4.97% (Rs 23) to Rs 448. While Henkel Spic lost 4.45% to Rs 25, Mcdowell dipped 4.25% to Rs 132. Rayban Sun Optics shed 2.16% to Rs 59, and Nirma was down 1.85% at Rs 344.

Pharma stocks, too, had a weak outing today. Morepen Labs crashed 8.41% to Rs 10, and Neuland Lab dropped 5.30% to Rs 251. While Aarti Drugs declined 4.82% to Rs 172, Wyeth slipped 3.90% to Rs 529. Wockhardt at Rs 362 (down Rs 13 or 3.40%), Elder Pharma at Rs 178 (down Rs 6 or 3.26%), Orchid Chemicals at Rs 257 (down Rs 8 or 2.97%) and J B Chem at Rs 454 (down Rs 14 or 2.92%) also ended at lower levels.

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 220 crore, followed by Infosys (Rs 97 crore), Maruti (Rs 77 crore), SBI (Rs 66 crore) and Satyam (Rs 57 crore), respectively.