Sensex ends down 120pts, NTPC zooms 7%

The Sensex opened on a weak note at  20,404 - down 61 points, but moved up to a high of 20,520 in early noon deals.

Selling in scrips like Bharti, ICICI Bank and Grasim saw the index drop to a low of 20,294 in late noon deals.

The Sensex finally closed with a loss of 120 points at 20,345.

The Sensex had hit an all-time high of 20,529 in noon deals yesterday before closing with a gain of 164 points at 20,465.

The BSE Power Index zoomed over 3% (148 points) to 4806 today. The BSE PSU Index was up over 2% at 11,011.

Market breadth was bullish - out of 2,954 scrips traded, 1,610 logged gains today.

INDEX LOSERS...

ICICI Bank declined 3% to Rs 1,228. ITC also slipped 3% to Rs 214.

Grasim dropped 4% to Rs 3,604. ACC and Ambuja Cements also declined today.

TCS and Wipro slipped 3% each to Rs 1,018 and Rs 496, respectively. Infosys declined 2% to Rs 1,713.

.....AND GAINERS

NTPC zoomed 7.5% to Rs 277.

Reliance Energy advanced over 6% (Rs 152) to Rs 2,517.

ONGC moved up nearly 3% to Rs 1,306.

HUL added 3% to Rs 223. Reliance was 1.4% at Rs 2,903.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

RNRL was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 521 crore followed by debutant Burnpur Cement (Rs 462 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 395 crore), debutant BGR Energy (Rs 393 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (Rs 311 crore).