Sensex down 73pts; SBI sheds 4%

Fresh buying in FMCG stocks saw the index touch a high of 16,506.

Intra-day profit taking in noon deals saw the index pare gains and drop to a low of 16,238. Banking and PSU stocks were hit the most.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 73 points at 16,275.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,763 stocks traded, 922 advanced, 1,760 declined and 81 were unchanged today.

The NSE Nifty was down 15 points at a close of 4,860.

INDEX SHAKERS...

SBI tumbled 4.2% to Rs 1,473. HDFC plunged over 2% to Rs 2,520.

ICICI Bank slipped 1.7% to Rs 812.

ONGC declined 1.3% to Rs 884, while Reliance and HDFC Bank dropped 1.2% each at Rs 2,493 and Rs 1,331.

DLF and Tata Steel were down 0.8% each to Rs 596 and Rs 868, respectively.

Hindalco was down 0.5% to Rs 185.

...AND THE MOVERS

Satyam surged 3.3% to Rs 499, and Cipla gained 3% to Rs 205.

Wipro advanced 2.7% to Rs 492. ITC and Reliance Communications added 1.6% each to Rs 209 and Rs 552, respectively.

Ambuja Cements, NTPC and Reliance Infrastructure moved up nearly 1% each at Rs 98, Rs 177 and Rs 1,259, respectively.

TCS was up 0.8% to Rs 967.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Bajaj Finserv led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 208.92 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 195.04 crore), Reliance (Rs 159.70 crore), Aishwarya Telecom (150.44 crore) and Reliance Power (Rs 143.90 crore).

Chambal Fertilisers topped the volume chart with trades of around 1.67 crore shares followed by IFCI (1.45 crore), Aishwarya Telecom (1.42 crore), Ispat Industries (1.37 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (1.17 crore).