Indices close lower on profit booking

16 June 2005

Indices opened on a positive note after last three days' gains in search of new all time highs. The attempt at record breaking was given up early in the morning itself as markets struggled on the face of large scale profit booking in frontline stocks.

Profit booking was seen in many of the significant gainers of the last three days like ICICI Bank and Bharti. Super heavy weight ONGC traded in the negative throughout the day.

The indices recovered after the initial dip and tested the highs of the day by early in the afternoon. The markets gave up again in the last hour, but managed to close above 6900 and 2120 on the Sensex and Nifty respectively.

Oil marketing stocks cooled off after the government disappointed traders yet again by postponing the decision on oil price hike. Fresh selling emerged in steel stocks as well.

Reliance group stocks lent some support to the markets, without which the indices would have seen a far deeper correction.

Sensex closed at 6900, down 7 points and the Nifty at 2124, down 5 points from yesterday's close. Nifty June futures discount to the spot widened to 23 points from yesterday's 20 points.