Markets ends marginally down: Bank down; realty, IT up

23 April 2008

The markets ended with marginal losses amid a rangebound session after six consecutive sessions of positive close. Selling pressure was seen in banks, metal, capital goods and some power and oil stocks. However, realty and some technology stocks were still witnessing buying interest. The Nifty closed above 5000 mark for the third consecutive session. Market breadth was sightly in favour of the declines. Even the broader markets closed flat.

BHEL, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and SAIL were major draggers while movers - Wipro, ACC, M&M, Unitech, Infosys and Cairn India.

Textile stocks were star performers, Arvind Mills was up over 12%, S Kumar Nationwide up 6%, Alok Industries up 8%.

Sensex closed down 85.83 points or 0.51% at 16698.04, and the Nifty down 26.50 points or 0.52% at 5022.80.

About 1486 shares have advanced, 1373 shares declined, and 219 shares are unchanged

The BSE Midcap Index ended at 6,699.10 up 1.4%.