Markets end with marginal losses

The Sensex opened 51 points higher at 17,231 on the back of smart gains in the US markets.

The index, however, could not move any further higher as subdued cues from the Asian markets coupled with anxiousness ahead of the impeding derivatives expiry this Thursday weighed on the market sentiment.

The index soon slipped into red, and dropped to a low of 17,028 - down 203 points from the day's high - in early noon trades. Steady buying in auto stocks and some pull back in select banking and IT stocks saw the index cut losses towards the close.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 49 points at 17,131.

The NSE Nifty touched a high of 5,113 in early trades, and then dropped to a low of 5,054. The index settled with a loss of 13 points at 5,091.

The BSE Auto index moved up 1.4% to 7,056. The FMCG index was down almost 1% at 2,887.

INDEX SHAKERS. . .

Tata Steel was the major loser today. The stock dropped 2.8% to Rs 557.

Reliance Infrastructure and ITC slipped over 2% each to Rs 1,069 and Rs 264, respectively. Sterlite, too, shed nearly 2% at Rs 855.

ICICI Bank, ONGC and BHEL declined over 1% each at Rs 905, Rs 1,173 and Rs 2,235, respectively.

HDFC and Reliance were down nearly 1% each at Rs 2,813 and Rs 2,176, respectively.

. . .AND THE MOVERS

Maruti surged 2.7% to Rs 1,599, and Mahindra & Mahindra moved up 2.4% to Rs 1,067. Hero Honda too rallied over 2% to Rs 1,688.

Bharti Airtel gained over 2% at Rs 282. Hindalco was up 1% at Rs 135.

The market breadth was neutral - out of 2,826 stocks traded, 1,368 advanced, 1,371 declined on Tuesday.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Reliance Industries topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 152.70 crore followed by SBI (Rs 146 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 137.77 crore), JSW Steel (Rs 136.37 crore) and debutant Den Networks (Rs 124 crore).

Dena Bank led the volume chart with trades of around 12.44 million shares followed by Unitech (8.13 million), Suzlon (7.91 million), Den Networks (7.73 million) and Mahindra Satyam (6.72 million.