Sensex sheds 324pts on profit taking

The Sensex today opened in the red on negative cues from the global markets. The index was volatile with a negative bias through greater part of the trading day. In early noon, the index rebounded to touch a high of 14,090. But it could not hold gains and slipped deeper into the negative zone. Agressive profit taking saw the index slump to a low of 13,704.

The Sensex finally ended down 324 points at 13,737.

The market breadth was extremely positive. Out of 2,767 stocks traded, 2,097 advanced while only 627 declined. The rest were unchanged.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Larsen & Toubro plunged 8.5% to Rs 1,243. Maruti Suzuki shed 7% at Rs 971. ICICI Bank, HDFC and Hindalco dropped 5% each to Rs 672, Rs 2,099 and Rs 79, respectively.

Wipro and TCS declined more than 4% each to Rs 375 and Rs 649, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra, BHEL, SBI, ACC, DLF and Sun Pharma slipped 3-4% each. Sterlite, Grasim, ITC, Tata Power, Infosys, Tata Motors, Reliance and Tata Steel were the other losers.

...AND MOVERS

ONGC surged 8.5% to Rs 1,074. Reliance Communications gained 4.5% at Rs 322. Ranbaxy added 2.5% to Rs 322.

NTPC and Reliance Infrastructure also moved up.

OTHER PROMINENT LOSERS....

Indian Overseas Bank and Sintex Industries slumped 7.5% each to Rs 85 and Rs 210, respectively.

India Infoline, Hindustan Construction Company, Yes Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce shed 7% each. ABB, Kotak Bank,  Lanco Infratech, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, CESC, and Century Textiles and Industries were the other losers.

...AND GAINERS

Financial Technologies zoomed 16% to Rs 1,226. Apollo Hospital Enterprises and MMTC soared 15% each to Rs 546, Rs 27,190.

HPCL, IOC, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Tata Chemicals, Rolta India, BPCL, OPTO Circuits India and Tech Mahindra gained 8-14% each.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

HDIL has topped the value chart with a turnover of over Rs 277 crore. It is followed by ICICI Bank (Rs 242.20 crore), DLF (Rs 240.59 crore), Reliance (Rs 210.56 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 209.59 crore).

The volume chart was led by Ispat Industries with trades of around 24.8 million shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (24.45 million), Unitech (20.42 million), IFCI (16.81 million) and Suzlon (13.47 million).