Sensex falls after breaching 15,0000 mark

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex, which had gained nearly 1,300 points in the last five trading sessions, surged to cross the 15,000 point level at the outset but tumbled to end at 14,870.90, revealing a small loss of 4.01 points.

Snapping a five-day rally, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday closed with a moderate loss of four points on profit booking at the existing higher levels in bluechip firms led by Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies.

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The Sensex, which had gained nearly 1,300 points in the last five trading sessions, surged to cross the 15,000 point level at the outset but tumbled to end at 14,870.90, revealing a small loss of 4.01 points.

On the other hand, the 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty edged up by 5.45 points at 4,530.70. It moved between 4,574.90 and 4,478.60 points during the day.

The BSE index rose to a nine-month high of 15,046.43, and attracted profit booking in heavy-weight Sensex participants in the refinery, banking and information technologies segments.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 18 stocks were higher and 12 counters closed with losses.

Reliance Industries fell 1.51 per cent to Rs 2,244.60, Infosys 2.16 per cent to Rs 1,645.90 and ICICI Bank 1.74 per cent to Rs 719.70. The three stocks carry nearly 30 per cent weight in the index.

The fall was partly offset by a rise in shares of FMCG, consumer durables, healthcare, metals, capital goods, power, realty and autos.

The fast-moving consumer goods sector index gained the most, 4.19 per cent, to 2,258.26, followed by consumer durables, 4.04 per cent, to 3,023.92. The healthcare index was up by 12.28 per cent to 3,518.71.

With trading becoming stock-specific, the smallcap sector index rose 2.11 per cent to 6,384.92 and the midcap index 1.50 per cent to 5,325.54.