Sensex drops 54pts; Tata Steel up 2%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 13 points at 6,921, and immediately moved up to a high of 6,949 in early deals. After moving in a narrow, positive zone in the morning session, the index slipped on profit-taking at higher levels. Sustained, across-the-board selling saw the index dip to a low of 6,839 -  a drop of 110 points from the intra-day high - towards the closing bell.

The Sensex finally closed with a loss of 54 points (0.78%) at 6,854.

While 25 index scrips declined with a volume of 1.12 crore shares totalling Rs 651 crore, five advanced with a volume of 29 lakh shares for Rs 123 crore.

Heavyweights finished on a weak note. ITC dropped 2.5% (Rs 35) to Rs 1,345. ONGC declined more than 2% (Rs 19) to Rs 912. Reliance was down more than a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 588, and SBI lost Rs 6 to Rs 737.

 Infosys was down Rs 18 at Rs 2,215. Wipro and Satyam also declined.

Grasim dropped 1.8% (Rs 26) to Rs 1,371. While Gujarat Ambuja was down Rs 4 at Rs 437, ACC declined Rs 3 to Rs 366.

Bharti moved up more than a per cent (Rs 2) to Rs 225 even after the release of the news that Sunil Mittal, after selling 27 lakh shares,  has no direct holding in the company.

Tata Steel was up more than 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 441. L&T moved up Rs 4 to Rs 1,093.

BHEL declined 2.7% (Rs 22) to Rs 811. HDFC was down 2% (Rs 16) at Rs 804, and HDFC Bank dropped Rs 6 to Rs 609.

Dr. Reddy's was down nearly 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 743. Cipla declined 1.6% (Rs 5) to Rs 280, and Ranbaxy dropped more than a per cent (Rs 13) to Rs 1,069.

Bajaj moved up 1.7% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,118. Hero Honda was up 1.6% (Rs 9) to Rs 564. While Maruti was down a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 458, Tata Motors slipped Rs 6 to Rs 462.

While the BSE consumer durables (CD) index was up more than a per cent at 1,570, the BSE Metal index moved up 1.3% at 6,815.

The broad market mood was bearish - Out of the total  2,505 scrips traded on the BSE, 1,319 declined, 1,110  advanced and 76 were unchanged today.

Essar Steel topped the volume chart with a volume of over 1.29 crore shares, and Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 149 crore.