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Market@18 Feb: Day's report

Software attracts huge buying but cyclicals tumble. HLL stems Sensex decline.

Sensex down 113.5 points at 5721.65 points, Nifty at 1717.80, down 24.3 points. HLL, Wipro, Dr.Reddy's and Sun Pharma hit upper circuit.

• BSE advances: 927
• BSE declines: 1107
• BSE unchanged: 215
• BSE volumes: Rs 4765 crore
• NSE volumes: Rs 5554 crore

For the third consecutive day, software stocks continued to be in great demand. Thanks to huge investment purchases by domestic as well foreign investors, a large number of software stocks hit new highs. Wipro opened at the upper circuit and remained there throughout the day. Satyam Computer, SSI, Hughes Software and Polaris too hit the upper circuit.

BSE closed at 1330 IST on account of an early badla session. Stocks like Pentamedia, Himachal Futuristic, DSQ Software and Silverline showed impressive gains on the NSE. The pharma sector too remained strong but buying was selective. Stocks like Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Lab remained at the upper circuit for the major part of the day.

Cyclicals, however, saw selling, especially during the second half of the day. ACC, L&T, Gujarat Ambuja, and Grasim were the prime targets.

Pivotals like ITC also remained weak and showed substantial losses. BHEL, L&T, HPCL, Hindalco and MTNL also fell. HLL remained the star counter with a 7 per cent gain. Had HLL not contributed, the fall in Sensex would have been much sharper.

Meanwhile, the Sensex opened at 5894.19 points which incidently was the high for the day. It touched a low of 5681.98 points and closed the day at 5721.65 points. Nifty opened at 1742.30 points and touched a peak of 1764.15 points. The low was 1713.45 points and it closed the day at 1717.80 points.

Stocks at upper circuit
Satyam Computer, Escorts, SSI, Reliance Capital, Sun Pharma, Global Trust, Boss Industries, Thirumalai, Hughes Software, Websity Infosys, Ashok Leyland, BITS, Paramount Communication, Philips, Appu Industries, Sri Adhikari, Ram Informatics and Agro Dutch.

Stocks at lower circuit
BHEL, BPL, Thomas Cook, Indo Gulf, McDowell, United Phosphorus, Bharat Electronics, Nelco, Hoechst Marrion, United Western Bank, Crisil and Sonata Software.

Stocks up over 5 per cent
Pentamedia, Himachal Futuristic, Tata Tea, HLL, Jain Studios, Jupiter Orga, Rhone Poulenc, Vision Technologies, Kerala Ayurvedic, Zicom, Henkel Spic, Blue Dart, Rajesh Exports, Mastek and Otis Elevators.

Stocks down over 5 per cent
ACC, MTNL, Infosys, BSES, ICICI, Tata Elxsi, Cipla, Aptech, HDFC, Raymond, IPCL, Telco, Bajaj Auto, Grasim, Siemens, Apollo Tyres, Castrol, ABB, Parke-Davis, Tata Power, Shyam Telecom and IndusInd Bank.

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