Sensex up 34 pts; profit-booking trims gains

Erasing inital gains, the BSE benchmark Sensex today closed with a moderate gain of 34 points on profit-booking after the surge it had made following RBI's cut in the short-term lending rate.

Erasing inital gains, the BSE benchmark Sensex on Wednesday closed with a moderate gain of 34 points on profit-booking after the surge it had made following RBI's cut in the short-term lending rate.

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Intra-day, Sensex touched 17,522.80 but ended the day at 17,392.39 -- up just 34.45 points, or 0.20%. It had gained over 263 points in the last two sessions.

The NSE 50-scrips index Nifty added 10.30 points, or 0.19% to 5,300.

The market opened strong on firm Asian trend, but lower openings in Europe triggered profit booking.

Auto firms gained the most on expectations of lower rates after the Reserve Bank cut short term interest rate by 0.50% on Tuesday that will lead to cheaper loans.

The auto sector index rose by 1.52% to 10,529.39 as Tata Motors spurted 2.70%, Hero MotoCorp - 0.87%, Maruti Suzuki - 0.62%, Apollo Tyres - 2.02% and Bajaj Auto - 2.59%.

The most heaviest on Sensex - Reliance Industries rose 0.40% ahead of its fourth quarter results.

ITC, which had rallied 10% in last six sessions, fell by 1.79% and SBI was down 0.45%.

Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 18 closed with gains.