Sensex sheds 46 points

Despite a positive start to the day the Sensex ended in red after trading in the negative territory for most of the day. The index had opened with a positive gap of 13 points at 7693 and then inched to the day's high of 7700. However, the index could not hold gains as the market sentiment turned bearish on the back of soaring crude oil prices.

The morning session saw the index slip to the day's low of 7566, down 134 points from the intra-day high. The index, thereafter, staged a slow and steady recovery and finally closed with losses of 46 points at 7634. The Nifty shed 19 points at the day's close of 2338.

Cipla was the major loser among the Sensex stocks, and the stock slipped 3% to Rs343. It was followed by BHEL down 2.8%, HDFC and Dr.Reddy's down 2.5% each. Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, ICICI Bank, Maruti, ONGC, Reliance Energy, Satyam, SBI, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Wipro declined 1-2% each.

On the other hand, Bharti Tele was the major gainer, up 2% at Rs317. HDFC Bank, Infosys and Larsen & Tourbo gained 1% each.

The BSE Auto, BANKEX and Health Care indices were down over 1% each at 3169, 4401 and 2970, respectively. The BSE Mid-cap and IT indices closed flat at 5756 and 2878, respectively, while the BSE Metal index dipped 0.5% to close at 6213.