Bull rally runs out of steam

Brokers said the profit taking at the higher level was mainly due to technical considerations of the market following smart rise in value in the previous session. This besides, the selling pressure was in line with squaring up outstanding position in view today being the last session for the current settlement on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Operators discounted the news of election of G M C Balayogi, BJP coaliation- backed TDP nominee, as speaker of the12th Lok Sabha. Domestic institutions sold shares of Hindustan Lever, Infosys Technologies, MTNL, BHEL, Pentafour Software and others in sizeable numbers. Foreign funds, however, reportedly picked up small lots of shares of Telco and L&T.

On the NSE, pivotals started firm on hectic activity on the last day of the current settlement but turned weak on the latter part of the day on fresh selling and closed subdued. The NSE-50 index started better at 1124.25 and rose further sharply to 1137.80. Later, it declined to 1117.35 and closed at 1120.85, showing a fall of 3.25 over the last close of 1124.10. The Midcap index, after a higher start at 1319.80, rose to 1342.50 and closed at 1324.75, disclosing a gain of 5.65 over the previous close of 1319.10.