Sensex reverses early gains; ends 10 pts down

MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex failed to hold on to its early gain on Friday and ended lower by 10 points on fag-end profit booking by funds.

The BSE 30-share index, which had surged by 210 points during the day, fell back sharply to close with a moderate loss of 10.64 points at 15,603.80 points. During the day, it touched a high of 15,824.65 and low of 15,568.36 points.

Similarly, wide-based National Stock Exchange index's Nifty fell by 10.95 points at 4,528.95. It surged to 4,582.60 and fell to 4,508.85 points during the day.

A sharp rise in realty, metal and banking stocks helped in averting any major fall in the key index. Realty sector index rose by 124.89 points at 7,972.75, metal index by 55.33 points at 11,979.96 and bank index by 54.17 points at 8,136.11.

However, index of public sector undertakings fell by 96.63 points at 7,300, while auto index dropped by 53.87 points at 4,885.47.