Sensex falls 55 points

After a fluctuation of 323 points during the day, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex ended nearly 55 points lower on investors booking profits at higher levels.

The Sensex, which touched the day’s high of 15,563.74 and a low of 15,240.73 points, closed with a loss of 55.34 points at 15,411.47 on heavyweight stocks of Reliance Industries and Infosys falling sharply. The two stocks carry nearly 27 per cent weight on the Sensex. The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 17.55 points at 4,637.70. It moved between 4,679.55 and 4,586.15 points during the day. Selling pressure picked up as market participants booked profits at higher levels.

The information technology sector index suffered 2.58 per cent, the highest, at 3,305.23 as Infosys Technologies slid 2.87 per cent to Rs 1,751.55 as investors judged the recent surge in technology stocks was overdone.The refinery stocks were the second-biggest losers as the oil and gas index fell by 1.65 per cent to 19,366.45, after the segment major Reliance Industries fell 0.88 per cent to Rs 2,299.75 on fears that the rising crude oil prices might influence earnings of firms in the oil business.