Profit booking snaps the rally

STOCK REPORT

The Nifty ended down after rising six days in a row tracking the weak close in major Asian markets. Dealers said valuations in select frontline shares appeared stretched at current levels, leading to profit booking.

Cement shares led index laggards, while metal, state-owned banks and pharmaceutical shares ended up.

After five straight sessions of gains, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended down 22.14 points or 0.2 per cent at 9241.76.

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty closed at 2804.55, down 7.75 points or 0.3 per cent.

Earlier today, the Sensex and Nifty hit new all-time highs of 9309.01 and 2825.65, respectively.

With indices gaining over 5 per cent in five straight trading sessions until Tuesday, sentiment was cautions today, dealers said.

"Investors adopted a wait and watch approach, while booking profits in some index stocks, as they suspect a correction is round the corner," said Priyadarshi Shrivastava, director, India Broking.

"However, today's negative close is certainly not a sign of trend reversal," he said.

Among index laggards, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Larsen & Toubro, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation, Grasim Industries, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Infosys Technologies ended 2-3 per cent weak.

State-owned banks ended up on a report in the Economic Times newspaper that these banks could split the face value of their shares ahead of their proposed public issues.

Oriental Bank of Commerce shares were up 2.5 per cent, while Punjab National Bank gained 3.6 per cent over Tuesday.

Mid-cap indices"�CNX Midcap and S&P CNX 500"�ended almost unchanged over Tuesday.

Bears held a clear upper hand in the broad market, as losers led gainers 1,561:914 across the board on the BSE.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were believed to be selective buyers in some blue chip counters.

FIIs reported net investments of Rs 281.1 crore on Monday after a hefty inflows of Rs 420.1 crore on Friday. FIIs have so far pumped in over $9 billion or Rs 40,000 crore in equity in the calendar year.

AIA Engineering, which was listed at Rs 405 on the NSE today, closed at Rs 501 against its issue price of Rs 315.

NRC ended 4 per cent up on a report in the Economic Times quoting chairman G P Goenka that the company is close to selling its property in Kalyan, in the outskirts of Mumbai.