Reliance pulls down markets

The Indian bourses opened almost flat at 16,421. Profit taking in Asian markets saw our markets extend losses as the day progressed. Selling in the realty, oil & gas  and metal sectors saw the index slip to a low of 16,287. Index heavy weight Reliance Industries, alone, accounted for 74 points to today's fall on the back of reports that the company might have to raise its offer from $13.50 to $15.50 billion for takeover of LyondellBasell.

Metal stocks fell on decline in metal prices on London Metal Exchange. The Asian markets eventually ended on a mixed note today. The Hang Seng dropped 111 points to 20,422, while the Nikkei added 28 points at 10,335.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,904 shares traded, 1,748 declined and 1,070 advanced on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, realty and the oil & gas indices slipped 2% each.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 101 points at at 16,328

The NSE Nifty has closed  at 4,888, down 28 points.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Reliance slipped 3% to Rs 997. Sterlite, Jaiprakash Associates and Reliance Infrastructure dropped 2% each to Rs 768, Rs 135 and Rs 1,028, respectively.

Reliance Communication, Grasim Industries, Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Power and ITC were the other prominent losers on the Sensex, down 1-2% each.

...AND THE MOVERS

HDFC Bank and NTPC advanced over 1.5% each to Rs 1,683 and Rs 205, respetively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPER

Reliance topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 115.04 crore. It is followed by Axis Bank (Rs 103.84 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 75.57 crore), DLF (Rs 68.31 crore) and Unitech (68.10 crore).

Gee Kay Finance led the volume chart with trades of 21.86 million shares. It was followed by Cals Refineries (14.29 million), Unitech (9.55 million), Shree Ashtavinayak (8.9 million) and Suzlon Energy (7.59 million).