Volatile Sensex sheds 70pts; IT stocks buck trend

The Sensex exhibited high volatility today. A recovery in the Asian markets helped the index recover from a weak start (down 60 points) at 14,196 in opening trades.

Smart gains in metal and technology stocks saw the index rally to a high of 14,363. However, the index could not hold gains for long, as considerable selling pressure in auto and FMCG stocks pulled down the index to a low of 14,139 - down 224 points from the day's high.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 70 points at 14,186.

The BSE FMCG index shed 1.7% to 1812. The Auto, Bankex and Oil & Gas indices slipped 1% each to 4812, 7512 and 7393, respectively. The IT index, however, moved up 1.7% to 4958.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,574 stocks traded, 1,456 declined, 1,043 advanced and 75 were unchanged today.

AUTO, FMCG SLIDE

Bajaj Auto tumbled nearly 3% to Rs 2,155. Hero Honda and Maruti slipped over 2% each to Rs 697 and Rs 761, respectively. Tata Motors shed 1.4% to Rs 677.

ITC and HLL dropped 2% each to Rs 155 and Rs 191, respectively.

ACC plunged over 2% to Rs 804. SBI declined 2% to Rs 1,360, and HDFC Bank was down 1.5% to Rs 1,110.

Larsen & Toubro, Reliance, Gujarat Ambuja, ONGC and Reliance Energy were the other major losers.

Satyam soared 3.4% to Rs 481, and Wipro surged 2.5% to Rs 545.

Hindalco rallied 3% to Rs 153.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Communications topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 211.75 crore followed by Nitin Fire (Rs 207.25 crore), Reliance (Rs 159 crore), IFCI (Rs 125 crore) and SBI (Rs 121 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 2.52 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural (85.60 lakh), G V Films (64.20 lakh), Srei Infra (61.51 lakh) and Bellary Steel (55.80 lakh).