Sensex drops 38 pts; HLL gains 3%

The Sensex opened with a loss of four points at 6,374. Sluggish trading in most of the counters saw the index move in negative zone within 20-30 points till mid-noon trades.

The markets plunged deep into the red in afternoon trades as sustained selling pressure in old and new economy stocks dragged the index to a low of 6,323.

The Sensex finally settled with a loss of 38 points at 6,340. The Nifty lost 13 points to 1,958.

Infosys dropped 1.47% (Rs 29) to Rs 1,959. While Satyam lost 1.75% (Rs 7) to Rs 416, Wipro ended 1.31% lower (Rs 9) at Rs 642.

Tata Motors declined 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 434. While Maruti shed 1.80% (Rs 8) to Rs 431, Hero Honda slipped a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 503. Bajaj, however, moved up a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 1,081.

ONGC slumped 1.68% (Rs 14) to Rs 848, and ITC ended with a loss of Rs 7 at Rs 1,380.

While HLL shot up 3.22% (Rs 4) to Rs 138, Reliance closed up a rupee at Rs 547.

L&T was down 2% (Rs 21) at Rs 975. Tisco at Rs 359 (down Rs 5 or 1.29%) and Tata Power at Rs 351 (down Rs 6 or 1.58%), too, exhibited weak trends. BHEL, however, added 1.13% (Rs 9) to Rs 822.

ICICI Bank lost a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 404, and HDFC Bank was down a rupee at Rs 538. SBI was down a tad at Rs 624.

ACC lost 1.55% (Rs 6) to Rs 371, and Gujarat Ambuja dipped Rs 5 to Rs 431. Grasim, however, moved up 1.12% (Rs 14) to Rs 1,225.

Dr. Reddy's closed up a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 666. While Cipla ended on a flat note at Rs 244, Ranbaxy ended marginally lower at Rs 915.