Sensex drops 79pts, HDFC rallies 3%

Mirroring weakness in the global markets, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 40 points at 11,893. The index plunged deeper into the red soon - only to bounce back and touch a high of 11,921 in morning trades.

The index, however, could not hold the gains as persistent selling saw the index slip to a low of 11,815 - down 118 points from its previous close.

Selective buying towards the close saw the index recoup some of its loss and settle at 11,854, - down 79 points.

While the BSE IT index slipped 1.4% to 4281, the Healthcare index dropped 1.2% to 3599. The FMCG and Oil & Gas index dropped 1% each to 2016 and 5717, respectively.

The market breadth was almost neutral - out of 2,622 stocks traded, 1,286 declined, 1,255 advanced and 81 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cipla shed 2.7% to Rs 254. Bajaj Auto, Satyam and Wipro dropped 2% each to Rs 2,775, Rs 797 and Rs 512, respectively.

HDFC Bank, Infosys and ITC declined over 1.5% each to Rs 849, Rs 1,804 and Rs 186, respectively.

Hero Honda, Ranbaxy, Reliance, Gujarat Ambuja, SBI and Dr.Reddy's were down 1% each to Rs 711, Rs 410, Rs 1,126, Rs 115, Rs 939 and Rs 728, respectively.

TCS, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and BHEL were the other significant losers today.

HDFC rallied 3% to Rs 1,353. Maruti advanced over 2% to Rs 913, and Tata Motors gained 1.5% at Rs 897.

ACC and Larsen & Toubro were the other notable gainers today.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 131 crore followed by Century Textiles (Rs 107 crore), Jet Airways (Rs 92.60 crore), Hindustan Zinc (Rs 86.50 crore) and Unitech (Rs 85 crore).

Teledata led the volume chart with trades of around 62.56 lakh shares followed by Birla VXL (51.35 lakh), Hindustan Motors (38 lakh), IFCI (37.43 lakh) and Unitech (35.47 lakh).