Sensex ends down over 160pts, RIL drops 3%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 105 points at 19,973 and hit a high of 20,026 in early deals. Selling pressure towards the closing bell saw the index drop to a low of 19,644.

The Sensex finally closed with a loss of 167 points (0.84%) at 19701. The Sensex had closed yesterday with a loss of 383 points at 19,868.

The BSE Smallcap Index was up 1.7% at 12,740, and the Midcap Index gained 0.8% at 9340.

Market breadth was bullish right through the day - out of 2,876 scrips traded, 2,000 logged gains today.

INDEX LOSERS...

Reliance, which reported a 160% rise in Q3 net including an extraordinary income of over Rs 4,700 crore and 26% excluding the extraordinary income, dropped over 3% (Rs 102) to Rs 2,996.

ICICI Bank declined 3% to Rs 1,322. HDFC Bank slipped nearly 2% to Rs 1,647.

TCS dropped over 2% to Rs 923. Satyam and Infosys were also weak today.

DLF slipped 3.7% to Rs 1,086. Reliance Energy was down over 2% at Rs 2,213.

....AND GAINERS

ITC gained 4% at Rs 217. Grasim added over 3% at Rs 3,360.

L&T and Maruti moved up over 2% each to Rs 4,078  and Rs 867, respectively.

Cipla, BHEL, M&M, HUL and Wipro also finished with gains today.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Reliance was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 472 crore followed by RNRL (Rs 431 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 316 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 209 crore) and HFCL (Rs 202 crore).