Date:19/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/19/stories/2005081903160100.htm

Back Sensex crosses 7,900 intra-day, closes lower in volatile trade

Our Bureau

Mumbai , Aug. 18

THE enthusiastic opening on the bourses on Thursday saw the Sensex cross the 7,900-level, though profit booking subsequently dragged the index down. .

On a day marked by highly volatile trade, the 30-stock benchmark index raised to its record high of 7,921.39 shortly after the opening bell. Though market participants now expect the Sensex to touch 8,000 before the month-end, several investors prefer to book profits on large-cap stocks. This led to a wild swing of nearly 130 points in the index on Thursday, as it touched an intra-day low of 7,791.91.

Overall, trade ended with the Sensex shedding 48.20 points to close at 7,811.33. The Nifty lost over 0.6 per cent during trade and ended trade at 2,388.45, down by 14.7 points from Wednesday's close.

Wednesday's trading was on the back of robust volumes. The BSE recorded a turnover of 54.52 crore shares worth Rs 3,550 crore, while the NSE witnessed 53.16 crore shares worth Rs 6,870 crore change hands. However, the market breadth was narrow with only 982 scrips advancing in the BSE as against 1,612 declining. At the NSE, FMCG and metal stocks were the worst hit.

HLL shed 2.4 per cent and closed at Rs 168.60, while rival Proctor and Gamble lost 2.3 per cent to close at Rs 787.75. Among the metal scrips, Hindustan Zinc lost 6.22 per cent and ended trade at Rs 189.25 and Jindal Saw Ltd shed over 4 per cent to close at Rs 375.

Banking stocks witnessed a smart rally on Thursday. HDFC Bank continued its gain from Wednesday. Several brokerages have assigned `buy' recommendations on the scrip, fuelling this counter. The scrip closed trade on Thursday with a gain of Rs 8.15 at Rs 663.70. Union Bank also gained close to 2.7 per cent and ended trade at Rs 135.65.