The Hindu Business Line : Market loses ground on profit booking

Major index stocks witnessed across the board selling, but late buying helped the indices move up from the day's low levels. The indices, however, ended below Monday's close.

BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 84.58 points (1.43 per cent) at 5,850.61, and on NSE, S&P CNX Nifty was down 19.2 points (1.02 per cent) to close at 1866.05.

The Sensex had risen 119.32 points in the previous two trading sessions, led by smart gains in PSU stocks.

Mood in the market turned somewhat cautious as investors rushed to book profits after the recent PSU-led gains. Technology stocks weakened following the rising outcry against outsourcing in the US. Old economy and PSU stocks also traded lower on profit booking after the recent gains. The undertone, however, is still optimistic as fears of a liquidity crunch disappeared with the ONGC issue getting subscribed over five times.

Brokers said profit booking was expected in stocks after the recent rise. Prior to today's fall, the BSE Sensex had gained 383.55 points to 5,935.19 from the recent low of 5,551.64 touched on February 27, on renewed buying in blue chips especially PSUs. According to brokers, the market is likely to move in a narrow range and would be more stock specific rather than sector specific. The next trigger for the stock market would be the March quarter results.

However, most of the brokers said till the March quarter results, the action would be mainly in PSU stocks.

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