Sensex drops 37pts

The Sensex opened with a small negative gap of three points at 8,526, and touched a high of 8,586 in morning deals. Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index drop to a low of 8,411 - a drop of 175 points from the intra-day high. The Sensex finally closed with a loss of 37 points at 8,492.

The Sensex has thus lost 142 points (1.6%) from the last weekend close of 8,634.

SBI declined Rs 9 to Rs 916, and Reliance was down Rs 2 at 789. HLL was firm right through the session, and closed with a gain of Rs 5 (2.8%) at Rs 180. ONGC was up Rs 8 at Rs 1,047.

Infosys dropped 1.8% (Rs 47) to Rs 2,569. While Satyam was down Rs 3 at 583, Wipro dipped Rs 2 to Rs 388. TCS, however, was up Rs 19 at Rs 1,445.

Grasim slipped Rs 19 to Rs 1,315. ACC and Gujarat Ambuja also declined today.

ICICI Bank dropped Rs 5 to Rs 531. HDFC and HDFC Bank also declined.

L&T was down Rs 15 at Rs 1,499. BHEL declined Rs 10 to Rs 1,215. Tata Steel was down 2% (Rs 9) at Rs 395.

Dr. Reddy's was up 2.5% (Rs 23) at Rs 945. Ranbaxy was up Rs 7 at Rs 526.

Tata Power advanced 2.7% (Rs 12) to Rs 473. Bajaj gained Rs 10 to Rs 1,733, and Bharti added Rs 5 to Rs 343.