Sensex ends down 143pts on profit-taking

Continued optimism in the market saw the Sensex open marginally (14 points) higher at 14,029, and the index zoomed to a new all-time intra-day high of 14,060 in opening trades.

The index, however, could not hold gains and soon slipped into negative zone. Unabated selling in ITC and Hindalco, coupled with profit-taking in technology stocks, saw the index slip deeper into red as the day progressed.

The index dropped to a low of 13,850 - down 210 points from the day's high - towards the closing bell. The Sensex finally settled with a loss of 143 points (1.2%) at 13,872.

The BSE FMCG and Metal index dropped 2% each to 1885 and 8939, respectively. The IT index shed 1.6% to 5363. The Auto index and Bankex was down around 1% each at 5674 and 7071, respectively.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,650 stocks traded, 1,536 advanced, 1,055 declined and the rest were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

ITC shed nearly 4% to Rs 169. Hindalco and Hero Honda slipped around 3% each to Rs 174 and Rs 755, respectively.

Satyam shed 2.6% to Rs 502, and Wipro dropped over 2% to Rs 606. TCS slipped over 1% to Rs 1,264, and Infosys was also down 1% at Rs 2,286.

Reliance Communications, SBI, HDFC, Gujarat Ambuja, Grasim and HDFC Bank declined over 1.5% each to Rs 465, Rs 1,244, Rs 1,581, Rs 143, Rs 2,794 and Rs 1,050, respectively.

Dr.Reddy's rallied over 2% to Rs 826. Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Energy and Tata Motors were up around 1% each at Rs 1,493, Rs 530 and Rs 947, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Info Edge topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 120.60 crore followed by Unitech (Rs 107.72 crore), Reliance (Rs 107.70 crore), Tech Mahindra (Rs 107 crore) and Satyam (Rs 105.40 crore).

Pentium Infotech led the volume chart with trades of around 87.55 lakh shares followed by Teledata (52.71 lakh), Himachal Futuristic (42.90 lakh), Four Soft (41.93 lakh) and IFCI (41.08 lakh).