Yearend slump: Sensex down 59 pts

The BSE 30-share sensitive index closes at 13,786.91 on late selling by funds and retail investors.

The benchmark Sensex ended 59 points down in the last session of 2006 on Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday on late selling by funds and retail investors in index-related stocks.

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The BSE 30-share sensitive index, Sensex, which recovered by 82.76 points in early trade after a rally in heavyweight stocks, succumbed to profit-taking towards the close. The index ended in the red with a fall of 59.43 points at 13,786.91. Earlier, the key index touched the day's high of 13,929.10 and a low of 13,770.06 points.

In similar manners, the broader National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, fell by 4.15 points at 3,966.40 after moving between 3,991.60 and 3,960.45 points.

Major losers which dragged the Sensex down were State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Reliance Communciations, Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, BHEL, HDFC Ltd, ITC Ltd and Reliance Energy.