Market ends down after positive gap up

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 193 points at 18,346, and rallied to a high of 18,491 on strong global cues. Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index pare early gains, and the index moved in a narrow range till the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) review of monetary policy.

The status quo stance taken by RBI saw the index slip to a low of 17,928 - down 563 points from the day's high. RBI, in its third quarterly monetary policy review, left all key rates - bank, repo, reverse repo and CRR - unchanged.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 61 points at 18,092. The Nifty settled with a marginal gain of seven points at 5,281.

The BSE Bankex dropped 3.5% to 11,120. While the FMCG index surged 2.7% to 2,206, the IT index rallied 2% to 3,731.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,793 stocks traded, 1,395 advanced, 1,355 declined and 43 were unchanged.

INDEX SHAKERS...

ICICI Bank plunged over 4% to Rs 1,220. SBI and HDFC Bank dropped around 3.5% each to Rs 2,225 and Rs 1,532, respectively.

Banking stocks tumbled across-the-board today. Bank of India slipped over 7% to Rs 381. Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce tumbled around 6% each to Rs 285, Rs 171 and Rs 265, respectively. Bank of Baroda, Federal Bank, Andhra Bank, Union Bank, Karnataka Bank, Punjab National Bank, Allahabad Bank and Centurion Bank of Punjab were down 2-5% each.

OTHER INDEX SHAKERS...

Bajaj Auto slipped nearly 3% to Rs 2,390. Bharti Airtel shed 2.2% at Rs 850.

Larsen & Toubro and BHEL declined 2% each to Rs 3,770 and Rs 2,052, respectively.

DLF was down 1% at Rs 883.

...AND THE MOVERS

Hindustan Unilever soared 4% to Rs 207. Hindalco and Cipla surged nearly 3.5% each to Rs 180 and Rs 191, respectively.

Infosys rallied over 3% to Rs 1,493. Tata Steel, HDFC and ITC advanced around 2.5% each to Rs 716, Rs 2,851 and Rs 201, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Ambuja Cements moved up over 2% each to Rs 702 and Rs 117, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Natural Resources led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 293 crore followed by Essar Oil (Rs 288.35 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 182.25 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 156.50 crore) and Reliance (Rs 140.75 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources topped the volume chart with trades of around two crore shares followed by Himachal Futuristic (1.84 crore), Essar Oil (1.20 crore), Ispat Industries (93.25 lakh) and Reliance Petroleum (91.25 lakh)