Sensex ends lower by 67 points

Snapping a four-day long upward march, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday ended lower by over 67 points, with funds and investors indulging in profit selling at higher levels.

The 30-share Sensex closed the day with a loss of 67.20 points at 18,048.05 with heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Steel and State Bank of India yielding notable ground.

Earlier, the key index had commenced the day stronger by 142 points on hectic buying by retail investors after Reliance Power revealed its plans of a bonus issue to its share holders.

The Sensex touched the day's high of 18,256.82 and a low of 17,900.96 during the day as volatility gripped the market on the back of a steep rise in the recently-listed Anil Ambani's Reliance Power plans to offer a bonus issue to its shares-holders, excluding its promoters.
Reliance Industries, the largest refining company by market value, fell for the first day after gaining 14 per cent in the past five sessions. State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp too lost after advancing more than 10 per cent in the last 3 sessions.

State Bank of India, the largest bank by assets, also declined for the first time in five days. All the three shares carry one-fifth weightage on the Sensex.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 26 points at 5276.90, after touching a high of 5,348.60 and a low of 5,224.00 points.

The major pull to the market came in from stocks of realty, oil and gas, information technologies, capital goods and teck segments.