Sensex ends down 19pts, NTPC gains 2%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 70 points at 15,535, and moved up to a high of 15,581 in morning trades. Profit-taking in noon deals saw the index slip into red and exhibit range-bound movement for most of the day.

The Sensex attempted to climb back to the day's high in late noon deals, but profit-taking saw the index tumble to a low of 15,407 - down 174 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a marginal loss of 19 points at 15,446.

The index, thus, broke its 8-day rally after gaining 1,300 points.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,793 stocks traded, 1,435 advanced, 1,299 declined and 59 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS...

NTPC and Cipla gained around 2% each to Rs 185 and Rs 183, respectively.

Wipro advanced 1.5% to Rs 473. Ambuja Cements moved up 1.3% to Rs 138.

ICICI Bank, Grasim, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto were up around 1% each at Rs 915, Rs 3,056, Rs 698 and Rs 2,307, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Maruti shed 2.3% to Rs 873. Ranbaxy slipped 1.7% to Rs 400.

ACC, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel declined 1.3% each to Rs 1,082, Rs 2,589 and Rs 849, respectively.

HDFC, SBI and BHEL were down around 1% each at Rs 2,037, Rs 1,594 and Rs 1,893, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Everonn Systems topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 135 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 129.30 crore), Take Solutions (Rs 125 crore), Lakshmi Machines Works (Rs 124.40 crore), and Reliance Energy (Rs 117.60 crore).

Nagarjuna Fertilisers led the volumes chart with trades of around 1.52 crore shares followed by IFCI (1.04 crore), IKF Technologies (97 lakh), Tata Tele (79.70 lakh) and Reliance Natural (79 lakh).