Indian markets hit new high, closes lower on profit booking

Indian markets were subdued after the indices touched new highs. The BSE Sensex crossed 9900 and NSE S&P CNX NIFTY crossed 3000 for the first time in its history. But, profit booking at higher levels pulled the Sensex and NIFTY down. The BSE Sensex closed at 9849.03, down by 21.76 points. The BSE Sensex touched an intraday high of 9945.19 and a low of 9803.68. Out of the 30 stocks in Sensex, 16 closed down and 14 closed higher.

The NSE S&P CNX NIFTY touched an intraday high of 3002.2 and low of 2963.65, before closing at 2974.5 down by 8.25 points. Out of the 50 stocks in NIFTY, 22 stocks closed higher and 28 closed down.

The major gainers in NIFTY were Dr Reddys Laboratories and Dabur India both gaining 5.31% and 5.07% respectively to close at Rs.1130.4 and Rs.116.1. The other gainers in NIFTY were WIPRO, GAIL, SCI all gaining by more than 3%.

Reliance Industries closed at Rs.711.05, up by 1.77% on news of striking oil in one of its wells in Krishna Godavari basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast. Dr.Reddys Laboratoris has been scaling new high after the company reported improved performance for the quarter ended December 2005.

The other notable gainers were Tata Power, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Zee Telefilms, HDFC all gaining more than 1% during the day´s trading.

SBI was the top loser in NIFTY with the stock losing 3.28% to close at Rs.883.75. The stock opened at Rs.905, hitting a high of Rs.911.75 and a low of Rs.881.25. Hero Honda was the secon major loser with the stock closing down by 2.97% to close at Rs.850.85.

The other major losers were BPCL, ONGC, ABB all losing more than 2% during the day´s trading. Punjab National Bank, Maruti, Jet Airways, Hindustan Lever, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Infosys Technologies, HCL Technologies all lost 1%.

Meanwhile, BPCL has posted a loss of Rs.1024 Crores during the quarter ended December 2005. The product prices have not increased for the past few months, but the crude prices has been ruling higher. The refining margins of the company were lower at USD 2.41 per barrel.

In BSE, Dr Reddys Laboratories was the major gainer with the stock gaining 5.32% to close at Rs.1130.55. WIPRO closed higher by 3.2% at Rs.521.95 and ACC closed higher by 2.05% at Rs.576.55.

The other gainers in BSE Sensex were Reliance Industries, Tata Power, Ranbaxy Laboratories and HDFC all gaining by more than 1%.

Source : Equity Bulls

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