WAITING FOR BUDGET07: Sensex sheds 171pts

After opening with a positive gap of 54 points at 13,703, the Sensex slipped into negative zone in morning deals on weak global trends.

The selling gained momentum in mid-noon trades, and the index tumbled to a low of 13,409 - down 294 points from the day's open.

The Sensex finally settled with a loss of 171 points at 13,479. The index has now shed 8.5% (1,245 points) from its all-time peak of 14,723 hit on February 9, 2007.

The BSE FMCG index slipped nearly 2% to 1777, and the Bankex shed 1.6% to 6695. The Auto and Teck indices were down over 1% each to 5305 and 3628, respectively.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,597 stocks traded, 1,330 advanced, 1,205 declined and rest were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hero Honda tumbled 3.6% to Rs 680, and ICICI Bank shed 3.3% to Rs 876.

Bajaj Auto and ITC slipped over 3% each to Rs 2,724 and Rs 165, respectively. Satyam dropped 2.4% to Rs 450.

Tata Motors, ONGC, HLL and SBI declined around 2% each to Rs 822, Rs 817, Rs 185 and Rs 1,069, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro, BHEL, Gujarat Ambuja, Wipro, TCS, Infosys, Cipla, Bharti Airtel and Hindalco were the other major losers today.

HDFC Bank surged over 2.5% to Rs 976. ACC and Maruti rallied around 1.5% each to Rs 961 and Rs 888, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

JSW Steel topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 163.65 crore followed by Power Finance (Rs 126.50 crore), Global Broadcast (Rs 126.47 crore), Reliance (Rs 118.94 crore) and C&C Construction (Rs 113.22 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 2.37 crore shares followed by Power Finance (1.07 crore), Firstsource (64.34 lakh), Redington (56.60 lakh) and Bellary Steel (46.72 lakh).