The BSE Sensex, which stayed above the 14,500 level, for most past of the day, suddenly started declining in late afternoon trade, on heavy profit booking.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 46.16 points to 14,384.59, as per provisional closing. It opened higher at 14,467.85 and surged to strike an intra-day high of 14,527.47 buoyed by strong buying momentum for index pivotals. Positive cues from US and Asian markets also helped the early momentum. It touched a low of 14,368.40, just couple of minutes before the closing bell.

The S&P CNX Nifty which had struck an all-time high of 4,295.60 points in early trade, settled with gain of 8.40 points to 4,256.55, as per provisional closing. Its earlier intra-day high was 4,291.40 of 23 May 2007.

Asian and European markets were trading mixed. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.61% or 106.38 points at 17,587.59 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.04% or 9.10 points at 20,529.76.

The market breadth, which indicates overall health of the market was strong on BSE with under 1.50 gainers for every loser. 1470 shares advanced as compared to 1094 that declined, while 97 remained unchanged. It was much stronger at 10:30 IST, with over 3.5 gainers for every loser. 1143 shares had advanced as compared to 348 that declined, at that time.

The market is expected to stay volatile over the next few days, ahead of the expiry of derivative series for the month of May 2007 scheduled on Thursday, 31 May 2007.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,148 crore, compared to Rs 3,525 crore at 14:30 IST.

Among the Sensex pack, 19 advanced while the rest declined. In early trade, all the Sensex constituents had advanced.

Shares from banking & financial sector staged a strong comeback today on renewed buying. HDFC Bank surged 5.20% to Rs 1,125 on volumes of 1.01 lakh shares, and was the top gainer. Other shares from banking & financial space ICICI Bank (up 1.20% to Rs 924) and State Bank of India (up 0.43% to Rs 1304) advanced.

The BSE Bankex had declined on Friday, 25 May 2007, on rumours of the RBI, which has already raised the CRR thrice since December 2006, contemplating another hike, though only on incremental deposits this time. CRR is the percentage of deposits that banks are required to keep with the RBI. The RBI is particularly concerned about absorbing excess liquidity since it has lowered the inflation target from 5-5.5% to 4-4.5% for 2007-08.

Meanwhile, ICICI Bank has sought the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to offload up to 24% equity in its investment company, ICICI Holdings, proposed to be set up as a wholly owned subsidiary. ICICI Bank plans to transfer its investments in the ICICI companies, comprising ICICI Life, ICICI General, ICICI AMC and ICICI Trust, to ICICI Holdings at the book value of each of the respective investments, aggregating to Rs 222.8-crore as of 31 March 2007.

Housing finance major HDFC gained 1.66% to Rs 1849, following its announcement of raising Rs 3,114 crore by issuing equity on a preferential basis to US based Carlyle Group and Citigroup, for funding growth of HDFC’s banking and insurance subsidiaries. It will issue fresh capital amounting to 7.11% of its equity on a preferential basis. After the issue, HDFC’s total foreign holding will be 80.4%, up from the existing 78.9%. The shares would be priced at Rs 1,730 per equity share of Rs 10 each.

Ranbaxy Laboratories rose 0.22% to Rs 382.50 after its wholly owned subsidiary, Ranbaxy Laboratories Inc. acquired from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) the US rights to a group of 13 dermatology products. These brands will be sold in the US market under the Ranbaxy Laboratories Inc. label.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped 0.45% to Rs 1719 on 3.24 lakh shares. It will begin natural gas production from its Krishna Godavari fields in Bay of Bengal from July 2008 as planned. The stock was highly volatile throughout the day, and moved in a range of Rs 1715 to Rs 1749.85.

After opening firm, IT pivotals declined, as Indian rupee was rangebound near a nine-year high on Monday, 28 May 2007, with state-run banks buying dollars possibly on behalf of the central bank.

Infosys Technologies lost 1.42% to Rs 1958.10 on 3.90 lakh shares, and was the top loser among IT pivotals. Wipro (down 0.83% to Rs 538), TCS (down 0.63% to Rs 1222) and Satyam Computers (down 1.20% to Rs 466.20) declined. A rise in the rupee directly impacts revenue and profit of IT firms, which derive a lion’s share of revenue from exports to the US.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) increased its stake from 51% to 100% in the joint venture IT services Company TCS do Brasil. It acquired Grupo TBA's 49% stake for a consideration of $ 33.4 million. TCS do Brasil recorded a top line of $ 66.5 million for the year ended 31 March 2007.

Binani Cement settled at Rs 68.65 on BSE, a discount over IPO price of Rs 75 per share. The scrip listed on BSE at Rs 75, and surged to hit a high of Rs 79 and a low of Rs 67.45.

The counter clocked high volumes of 57.62 lakh shares on BSE. The Binani Cement IPO was subscribed 1.36 times.

US stocks rose on Friday as takeover news, including Nasdaq's plan to buy Nordic exchange company OMX, boosted investor optimism, although trading was light ahead of a long holiday weekend. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 66.15 points, or 0.49%, to end at 13,507.28.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.22 points, or 0.55%, to finish at 1,515.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 19.27 points, or 0.76%, to close at 2,557.19. All US financial markets will be closed on Monday, 28 May 2007, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 319.50 crore on Thursday, 24 May 2007. FIIs have continuously poured in money since the last six trading sessions, starting 17 May 2007. They put in Rs 952.6 crore in last six trading sessions.

Crude oil fell in New York on speculation US fuel prices may ease as refiners increase output to meet summer demand. Crude oil for July delivery fell as much as 47 cents, or 0.7%, to $64.73 a barrel, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today.

Brent crude oil for July settlement was at $70.35 a barrel, down 34 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures exchange.

Meanwhile, as per report, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is set to roll out a more sophisticated version of short-selling in equity markets for both domestic and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the first week of July. This comes after a gap of more than six years.

Under the proposed scheme, short selling in individual scrips will be capped at 10% of the free float of shares of any company. The free float of a listed security is the proportion of shares available for purchase in the market by investors.

It may be recalled that short-selling was banned by Sebi on 7 March 2001, following a crash in stock prices.