Southern sojourn again

Stocks Report

 In a day that witnessed high volatility, moving in a range of 153.23 points, the Sensex touched a high of 4,880.66 and a low of 4,727.43 in intra-day trades. The NSE S&P CNX Nifty index closed at 1,506.50, losing 36.20 points.

 The Sensex has lost almost 175 points in the last two days. It had lost 79 points on Monday on profit booking after recent gains.

 After initial gains, selling was seen almost across the board, with old as well as new economy stocks losing ground on selling pressure.

 Heavyweights contributed significantly to the fall of the Sensex in the last session of trading. Hindustan Lever was down 3.06 per cent to close at Rs 188.60, Reliance Industries was down 2.69 per cent to close at Rs 467.90 and ITC was down 0.62 per cent to close at Rs 871.10.

 The fall is also being attributed partly to the additional exposure margins imposed by NSE on 19 stocks in the derivatives segment, which became effective today.

 Says an analyst from a local brokerage,