Sensex down 44 points as profit booking pares early gains

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share Sensex fell below the 11,000 level on Monday as the market shed early gains due to profit taking in afternoon trade, following weak European cues.

After hitting the intra-day high of 11,209.66 in early trade, the BSE barometer later tumbled to end the day at 10,979.50, a loss of 43.59 points or 0.40 per cent from its previous close.

Similarly, the 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange eased by 7.30 points or 0.22 per cent to close at 3,377.10 from its last close.

European markets were down 1.0 to 2.3 per cent in their early trade while Asian indices closed in positive territory except the Singapore Strait Times, which dropped by 1.14 per cent.

Among the top losers from the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank fell 3.38 per cent, NTPC 3.37 per cent, Hindalco 2.46 per cent, Grasim 2.42 per cent, Tata Power 2.39 per cent, TCS 2.21 per cent, HDFC 2.16 per cent, ITC 1.94 per cent and Sun Pharma
1.90 per cent.

However, Reliance Infra shot up 5.83 per cent, Jai Prakash Associates 5.02 per cent, Tata Motors 4.15 per cent, Sterlite 2.81 per cent, Larsen & Toubro 2.01 per cent, Tata Steel 1.76 per cent, Bharti Airtel 1.54 per cent and ACC 1.25 per cent.

Foreign institutional investors were believed to be selective buyers, particularly in second-line stocks.

FIIs bought shares worth Rs 669.85 crore on April 17, as per provisional data.

Brokers said the market remained volatile throughout, ahead of quarterly earnings and a policy meeting of the Reserve Bank of India on April 21.

The mid- and small-cap segments attracted good buying support, pushing their respective indices up by more than 1.5 per cent at close.

The market breadth turned mixed as 1,498 counters ended with gains and 1,032 with losses on the BSE.

The trading volume fell to Rs 4,749.97 crore from Rs 5,569.51 crore last Friday. Reliance Industries topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs 247.91 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 244.31 crore), REL Infra (Rs 236.15), Unitech (Rs 191.08 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 175.75 crore).

From the sectoral indices, the BSE-Metal shot up 2.53 per cent, capital goods by 1.79 per cent, consumer durables by 1.65 cent, realty by 1.52 per cent and power by 1.33 per cent.

However, the bankex, FMCG, healthcare and IT indices ended with marginal losses.