Sensex drops 96pts; HDFC shed 3%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 77 points at 11,580, but just could not get further higher. Soon enough the index slipped into the negative zone and traded with a negative bias through the day.

Selling intensified in the late noon deals and the index dropped to a low of 11,375 - down 205 points from the day's open. The Sensex finally settled with a loss of 96 points at 11,407.

The BSE Auto, FMCG and Metal indices shed around 1.5% each to 4880, 1951 and 8084, respectively. The Bankex was down 1% at 5143.

Declines beat advances in the ratio of nearly 2:1. Out of 2,578 stocks traded, 1,631 declined, 889 advanced and the rest unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

HDFC has dropped over 3% to Rs 1,276. Bajaj Auto and Cipla have slipped over 2% each to Rs 2,689 and Rs 246, respectively.

Grasim and Tata Steel shed nearly 2% each to Rs 2,180 and Rs 506, respectively.

SBI, ITC and Ranbaxy declined 1.7% each to Rs 863, Rs 179 and Rs 385, respectively.

Hindalco, Maruti and ACC were down around 1.5% each at Rs 162, Rs 826 and Rs 894, respectively.

Grasim, TCS, HLL, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and ICICI Bank were the other prominent gainers.

Satyam spurted 1% to Rs 802. NTPC and BHEL moved up 0.5% each to Rs 124 and Rs 2,249, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Educomp Solutions topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 154.28 crore followed by Bombay Dyeing (Rs 130 crore), Mahindra Gesco (Rs 126 crore), Reliance (Rs 125.30 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 66.30 crore).

Sterlite Optical led the volume chart with trades of around 31.49 lakh shares followed by Uniply (30.50 lakh), Educomp Solutions (27.67 lakh), Gujarat Ambuja (26.45 lakh) and Lloyd Steel (24.27 lakh).