Sensex Edged Lower, Maruti Releases Splash

123jump.com Staff
09 Jan, 2008
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai edged lower after a rise in the last six days of trading. Sensex in Mumbai closed down 4 or 0.2% to 20,870. Of the stocks traded on BSE, 757 shares advanced, 2,137 declined, and 25 remained unchanged. Of the BSE shares, Reliance Industries declined 0.6% to 3,031.95 rupees. Bharat Heavy Electricals shed 2.02% to 2,443.80 rupees, Larsen & Toubro slid 0.07% to 4,329.8 rupees while Suzlon Energy 1.4% to 2,241.6 rupees.

[R]9:00AM New York, 7:30PM Mumbai-Sensex fell, dragged by oil & gas, metal and healthcare stocks.[/R]

Stock markets in India closed flat on Wednesday with the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index falling 0.02% or 4 at 20,870.

Of the stocks traded on BSE, 757 shares advanced, 2,137 declined, and 25 remained unchanged.

Of the Sensex index, 12 stocks gained and the rest fell.

Turnover on the BSE stood at 9,610 crore rupees lifted by Reliance companies.

Reliance Natural Resources recorded the highest turnover of 701.70 crore rupees, Reliance Capital, Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Communications and Reliance Energy were other turnover leaders on the exchange.

Turnover on the National Stock Exchange was at 21,469 crore rupees.

In the broader markets, Nifty dropped by 0.3%. The 50-share index closed at 6,272.

IT and real estate stocks gained while oil & gas, metal and healthcare stocks saw selling.

Among the benchmark index stocks, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Communication, Hindalco Industries, Reliance Energy and DLF Ltd were among the advancers as the stocks recorded gains with gains of over 1.2% each.

Of the NSE-50 shares, Glaxosmithkline, Siemens India, Grasim Industries and TCS were leading gainers with a rise of over 0.9% each.

On the other hand, Reliance Petroleum, BPCL, Mahindra & Mahindra, BHEL and ICICI were leading losers in the broader index with a fall of 2.4% or more.

Indians living in Britain have contributed 5 percent in the country''s Gross Domestic Product, British High Commissioner to India Richard Stagg has said.

Stagg lauded the Indian community in UK for their role in the country''s economic growth and urged some India companies to invest in his country. British High Commissioner, however, failed to mention that it is still not easy to obtain travel visa for the most Indian citizens.

Even after nearly 60 years of independence from Britain, UK has less than four cities in India where people can obtain travel visas. UK maintains more than 10 offices in several cities in the U.S.

Of the BSE shares, Reliance Industries declined 0.6% to 3,031.95 rupees.

Bharat Heavy Electricals shed 2.02% to 2,443.80 rupees, Larsen & Toubro slid 0.07% to 4,329.8 rupees while Suzlon Energy 1.4% to 2,241.6 rupees.

Tata Motors slipped 0.5% to 770.45 rupees, Bajaj Auto shed 0.2% to 2,532.1 rupees, Maruti Suzuki India fell 1.5% to 925.7 rupees.

Mahindra & Mahindra shed 2.7% to 807.9 rupees after the company said Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India, a leisure hospitality provider offering family holidays, sold 2% in private placement to the State Bank of India for a consideration and raised 80 crore rupees.

Tata Steel lost 0.2% to 890.5 rupees and Hindalco Industries gained 1.7% to 212.5 rupees.

India''s largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank declined 1.7% to 1,310.45 rupees.

Wipro gained 0.6% to 490.85 rupees and Satyam Computer Services surged. Infosys Technologies declined 0.4% to 1,655.55 rupees.

NTPC advanced 4.5% to 277.15 rupees and HDFC jumped 3.6% to 3,174.25 rupees. Reliance Communications surged 2.05% to 820.8 rupees.

ONGC lost 1.8% to 1,298.65 rupees and Ranbaxy Laboratories shed 1.7% to 411.6 rupees.