Energy shares pull down Sensex

The Sensex today ended with a loss of 196 points at 14,326 owing to significant losses in energy shares - oil & gas and power.

In the process, the index has now shed nearly 8% (1,274 points) from its recent high of 15,600 on June 12th.

The index today opened with a positive gap of 69 points at 14,591. The index exhibited rangebound till the noon, and touched a high of 14,668.

Heavy selling in the Oil & Gas stocks coupled with subdued opening of the European markets dragged the index into the negative terrain. As the selling accentuated towards the close, the index tumbled to a low of 14,270 down 398 points from the day's high.

The Oil & gas index shed 3% to 9,074. Power, metal and realty indices were down over 2% each.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,675 shares traded, 1,493 declined and 1,114 advanced on the BSE.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Tata Power slumped 5% to Rs 1,107. Grasim and Reliance Infrastructure dropped 4.5% each to Rs 2,140 and Rs 1,207, respectively.

Reliance, Hindalco and Mahindra & Mahindra shed 4% each to Rs 1,952, Rs 84 and Rs 709, respectively. NTPC, Ranbaxy and Tata Motors slipped 3.5% each.

TCS, Reliance Communications, DLF, Tata Steel, Sterlite, Sun Pharma, SBI, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, ACC and HDFC Bank declined 1-3% each.

...AND MOVERS

Maruti Suzuki gained 2% at Rs 1,069. ICICI Bank and ITC added 1.5% each to Rs 727 and Rs 203, respectively.

OTHER PROMINENT LOSERS...

MTNL plunged 5.5% to Rs 95. Financial Technologies India shed 5% to Rs 1,259.

Indian Hotels, NALCO, GMR Infrastructure, Ambuja Cement, Reliance Natural Resources, Bajaj Holdings & Investments, Century Textiles, Reliance Petroleum, Jai Corporation, Ispat Industries, Divi's Laboratories and MMTC dropped around 4% each.

...AND OTHER GAINERS

Everest Kanto Cyllinder soared 9% to Rs 208. Spice Telecom surged 8.5% to Rs 71. Petronet LNG rallied 7.5% to Rs 73.

BEML, Piramal Healthcare, IFCI, Gujarat NRE Coke, Jubilant Organosys and Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals added 4-7% each.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 323.23 crore, followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 223.23 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 158.05 crore), Suzlon (Rs 154.53 crore) and Reliance Infrastructure (Rs 139.11 crore).

The volume chart was led by IFCI with trades of over 24 million shares. It was followed by Unitech (16.54 million), Ispat Industries (15.09 million), Suzlon (13.86 million) and Reliance Natural Resources (12.64 million).