Sensex drops 9pts; Federal Bank gains 6%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 14 points at 8,332. Sustained buying in select scrips saw the index zoom to an intra-day high of 8,405 in morning deals. Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index shed ground, and drop to a low of 8,269 in noon deals - an intra-day swing of 136 points. The Sensex finally closed with a loss of nine points at 8,309.

The sectoral indices finished on a mixed note. The BSE FMCG Index gained over 1% (15 points) to 1,475. The BSE Bankex, and Healthcare and Consumer Durables indices finished with marginal gains.

The BSE Teck Index declined 0.6% (14 points) to 2,170. The BSE PSU Index was down 0.7% (31 points) at 4,741. The BSE Metal, Oil &Gas and Capital Goods indices also declined today.

Declines were ahead of advances today - out of 2,514 scrips traded, 1,307 declined, 1,152 moved up and 55 were unchanged today.

Infosys dropped 1.2% (Rs 32) to Rs 2,619. TCS declined Rs 19 to Rs 1,456. Wipro slipped 1.6% (Rs 6) to Rs 385. Satyam was down Rs 5 at Rs 640.

SBI gained 1.6% (Rs 13) to Rs 847. HLL added Rs 3 to Rs 173. Reliance was up a rupee at Rs 792. ONGC declined Rs 10 to Rs 954.

Ranbaxy slipped over 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 374. Tata Power was down over 2% (Rs 10) at Rs 423. HDFC Bank was down Rs 7 at Rs 631. NTPC, Hero Honda, Hindalco and Tata Motors also declined.

Dr. Reddy's gained 5% (Rs 43) to Rs 930. Bajaj moved up Rs 22 to Rs 1,843. HDFC was up Rs 9 at Rs 1,050.

ACC was up 1.6% (Rs 7) at Rs 485. Bharti, Maruti, Tata Steel and L&T closed with marginal gains today.

Federal Bank gained over 6% (Rs 10) to Rs 173 on reports that IFC was in talks with ICICI Bank to buy stake in the bank.

SBI was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 208 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 174 crore), Suzlon (Rs 150 crore), Titan (Rs 113 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 89 crore).