Asian Gains Halt Decline

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex snapped its three-session losing streak and settled with a marginal gain of 5.71 points at 3,030.06 today. The sensex had slipped below the 3,000 mark, and touched a nine-month low of 2,955.10 during intraday trades.

The sentiment was boosted by gains posted by stock markets across Asia and a rise in US stock futures, which pointed to a higher Wall Street opening.

"Selling earlier in the day was indiscriminate, and both local and foreign funds stepped in to pick bargains," a fund manager at a domestic mutual fund said.

On the National Stock Exchange, the S&P CNX Nifty ended 1.85 points lower at 971.65. Losers outnumbered the gainers amidst brisk trade.

FMCG major Hindustan Lever settled 0.60 per cent higher at Rs 176, Reliance Industries rose 1.30 per cent to Rs 248.85, while Reliance Petroleum advanced 0.45 per cent to Rs 22.10.

Two-wheeler major Hero Honda Motor bounced back from an intraday low of Rs 247.50 to settle at Rs 278.90, up 0.13 per cent over Friday's close.

However, Bajaj Auto settled 3.91 per cent lower at Rs 434.45, off the day's low of Rs 416 on selective buying interest at lower levels. GlaxoSmithKline (up 2.32 per cent to Rs 388.40) improved after the company announced impressive quarterly results on Friday.

Select public sector undertaking stocks such as Bhel (up 1.74 per cent to Rs 178.20) and MTNL (up 0.82 per cent to Rs 135.95) moved up from lower levels on selective buying interest.

However, software shares ended lower as fund managers doubted the sector's ability to recover quickly. Tech major Infosys Technologies settled 0.34 per cent lower at Rs 3,005.90, off its intraday low of Rs 2,980.80 on selling pressure.

Satyam Computer settled 1.55 per cent lower at Rs 218.50, but recovered from the day's low of Rs 209.65. The stock had slipped over 5 per cent earlier in the day following reports that the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) had ordered 21 prosecutions against the company.

Zee Telefilms slipped from a high of Rs 105 to Rs 99 before settling at Rs 100.55, down 2.66 per cent from Friday's close.