Sensex ends down 55pts, tech stocks decline

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 111 points at 14,045, and touched a high of 14,067 in early deals. The index, thereafter, pared gains and moved in a narrow band of 50-odd points (13,970-14,020).

Selling gained momentum in noon trades, and the index dropped to a low of 13,861 - down 206 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally settled with a loss of 55 points at 13,879.

While the BSE IT index declined 1.4% to 5,013, the Oil & Gas index advanced 1% to 7321.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,647 stocks traded, 1,387 declined, 1,197 advanced and 63 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Technology stocks exhibited weakness today. Wipro and Satyam slipped over 2% each to Rs 555 and Rs 460, respectively. Infosys dropped 1.6% to Rs 2,039.

Dr.Reddy's and Hindalco tumbled over 2% each to Rs 704 and Rs 145, respectively.

Cipla, ICICI Bank and NTPC were down over 1% each at Rs 214, Rs 844 and Rs 156, respectively.

Ranbaxy surged 2% to Rs 390. Reliance gained 1.5% at Rs 1,605, and Hero Honda added 1% to Rs 705.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

ICRA topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 397.20 crore followed by Indiabulls (Rs 260 crore), Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs 200 crore), Reliance (Rs 156.20 crore) and TCS (Rs 152.80 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 2.53 crore shares followed by Nagarjuna Fertilisers (1.32 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.15 crore), Tata Teleservices (1.06 crore) and Himachal Futuristic (94.45 lakh).