Our Bureau

Mumbai , Nov. 29

A FIVE-DAY rally ended on Tuesday when the BSE Sensex shed 63.78 points to finish at 8931.16 points in moderately volatile trade.

Lack of buying support at the upper levels resulted in a decline in stock prices prompting some sales for profit.

The BSE Sensex again breached the 9,000-point mark in early trade on Tuesday recording a high of 9000.65 points. BSE's key index had crossed the much-expected 9,000-point market for the first time in Monday's trade mainly on foreign institutional investor buying.

Of the 30 index stocks, 22 shares declined, while eight gained. BHEL, which had gained strongly on Monday, fell by Rs 44.60 or 3.04 per cent to Rs 1423.15.

"It was more a case of lack of buying today. Anyway profit-booking is healthy for the market,'' said a mutual fund official. He said there was no specific reason for the fall. Periodic corrections augur well for a market and they would prevent any long-term problem, he said.

The S&P CNX Nifty edged down by 13.7 points to 2698.30.

Foreign investors have been the main buyers on the domestic equity market, driving stock prices and indices to their record highs. FII investment on domestic bourses stood at $845.80 million until November 29, SEBI said. In 2005, the FIIs invested $8597.70 million.

Stocks that bucked today's decline were Ranbaxy and Reliance Energy. Ranbaxy moved up by Rs 8.45 to Rs 388.50 and Reliance Energy gained Rs 11.90 at Rs 588.70.

All indices on BSE moved down. On NSE, most indices barring CNX IT fell. CNX IT rose by 2.85 points to 3620.55 points.

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