Sensex closes 41 pts in red

ITC,ICICI Bank,HDFC,HDFC Bank,RIL and Tata Steel fell on profit booking,while while NTPC,Jaiprakash Associates,BHEL,SBI and Hindalco made gains.

Brokers attributed profit-selling mood partly to market holiday tomorrow on account of 8220;Moharum8221;.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer fell to a low of 16,691.21 intra-day amid mixed trend in the Asian markets. But,strong openings in Europe helped the Sensex rebound. It closed the day at 16,805.33,down 41.50 points or 0.25 per cent. In the last three-sessions,it had gained 838.49 points or 5.24 per cent.

The NSE wide-based Nifty today fell back by 11.00 points or 0.22 per cent to close at 5,039.15.

FIIs,main market movers,continue to be net buyers and had picked up shares worth Rs 596.89 crore on Friday,as per the provisional data.

8220;Markets behaved in line with the global peers. After extremely good performance last week,the Sensex today opened with a downward gap on global cues. Amid high volatility,Sensex remained under pressure throughout the session,witnessing profit-booking across major sectors,8221; said Shanu Goel,Senior Research Analyst,Bonanza Portfolio said.

Key indices in China,Singapore and Taiwan ended in the red,while those in Hong Kong,Japan and South Korea settled in the green. European stocks were trading firm in afternoon deals on hopes that EU summit this week may help resolve the euro zone8217;s debt crisis.

Back home,17 of the 30 Sensex based scrips closed with losses,while others concluded with gains.

Major losers were Tata Steel 1.73 per cent,Sun Pharma 1.53 pc,Sterlite 1.46 pc,Hero Motoco 0.99 pc,ITC 0.99 pc,Jindal Steel 0.92 pc,HDFC 0.81 pc,HDFC Bank 0.75 pc and Bajaj Auto 0.61 pc.

However,NTPC shot up 2.50 per cent,Jaiprakash 2.45 pc,BHEL 1.96 pc,SBI 1.17 pc,Hindalco 0.70 pc,Maruti Suzuki 0.50 pc and Infosys 0.42 pc.

Reflecting some buying in the second-line stocks by retail investors,the total market breadth on the BSE was slightly positive as 1,353 stocks closed in the green,while 1,337 were in the red.

The total turnover was relatively lower at 1,823.04 crore as against the Friday8217;s level of Rs 2,271.35 crore.

Company INFO More on Tata Steel

Stocks More on Sun Pharma

STOCKS/PREOPEN: Sensex to drop on profit-taking; UltraTech eyed

Sensex could falter on Monday as profit-taking is seen emerging after the market had rallied the most in nearly two-and-a-half years last week.

I don8217;t see the market going up. It will open in the red and will go down,Kishor Ostwal,chairman and managing director at CNI Research,said.

At 0230 GMT,the Nifty India stock futures traded in Singapore were trading down by 0.5 percent,pointing to a lower opening for the Indian market. In comparison,the MSCI8217;s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 percent.

Ostwal said players had gone long last week on expectations the central bank would cut the cash reserve ratio,the percentage of deposit that banks must keep with the central bank.

It did not materialise and there will be pressure to unwind the positions,he said.

The 30-share BSE index,which gained 7.3 percent last week,could drop around 300 points to 16,550,he said.

UltraTech Cement will be watched after the largest Indian cement producer said shipments in November rose an annual 16.3 percent to 3.09 million tonnes.

Bank of India will also be in focus after the state-run lender said it would buy 51 percent of Indian asset manager Bharti Axa Investment Managers Pvt Ltd from the firm8217;s two joint venture partners.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Ashok Leyland after its November sales jumped 53 percent from a year earlier.

Praj Industries after the company said its board had approved a buyback for up to 558.6 million rupees at a price not exceeding 90 rupees per share.

FACTORS TO WATCH

Euro skittish early in event-packed week

Oil rises on Iran worry,strong gasoline

Stocks,euro firmer on euro zone rescue hopes

Dow,Samp;P futures open up after strong week