The market which was firm till mid-afternoon trade, pared gains towards the later part of the trading session as some selling emerged at higher level. Sensex, in fact, slipped in the red at one point of time in late trade, before settling with modest gains. The market rose for the third straight day today. Auto, capital goods, and healthcare shares saw buying interest, while cement and IT shares witnessed selling.

The BSE 30-share Sensex was up 24.56 points to 14,675.07, as per provisional close. The barometer index opened higher at 14,685.16 and surged to strike a record high of 14,745.75 at 11:23 IST. It slipped to a low of 14,638.88 at 15:12 IST. It oscillated in a range of 108 points for the day.

Prior to this, the Sensex had struck a record high of 14,723.88 on 9 February 2007.

The Sensex had surged 146 points on Friday, 29 June 2007, boosted by latest data showing fall in inflation

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,303 crore compared to Rs 3,217 crore by 14:30 IST

The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1,490 shares advancing as compared to 1,163 shares that declined. 64 remained unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 17 advanced while the rest declined.

Car major Maruti Udyog surged 4.29% to Rs 774.40, on 2.26 lakh shares, after it said on Monday, 2 July 2007, it had sold 59,917 vehicles in June 2007, up 24% from 48,425 vehicles sold in June 2006. Maruti Udyog sold 56,000 units in the domestic market, up 25.5% from 44,626 units in June 2006. It exported 3,917 units in June, up 3% from 3,799 units last year.

Tata Motors advanced 2.20% to Rs 684.50 while Hero Honda Motors gained 0.05% to Rs 689.20.

Bajaj Auto rose 0.10% to Rs 2,131 after the company announced its sales dipped 12% in June 2007 over June 2006. The announcement was made by the company on Sunday, 1 July 2007.

Bajaj Auto said vehicle sales in June 2007 fell 12% to 1,87,624 units, from 2,13,918 units in June 2006. The company said it will launch a new motorbike in September 2007, with an initial sales target of 50,000 units a month by January 2008.

Pharma shares advanced on renewed buying. Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 3.10% to Rs 365.95), Cipla (up 0.74% to Rs 210) and Dr Reddy’s (up 0.74% to Rs 660.80), edged higher.

Shares from the capital goods space advanced on fresh buying. L&T (up 2.23% to Rs 2,245), Punj Lloyd (up 8.47% to Rs 278.65), Areva T&D (up 5.25% to Rs 1589) and Crompton Greaves (up 4.56% to Rs 264.75) advanced. However, Bhel slipped 0.41% to Rs 1,532 after striking an intra-day high of Rs 1582.70. L&T firmed up on reports that the government may select the engineering and construction firm as an additional supplier of equipment for power projects.

Cement stocks saw profit booking after two straight days of rally. Ambuja Cements shed 1.97% to Rs 122.10, on 5.54 lakh shares. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack. Grasim slipped 0.57% to Rs 2,622.90.

However, ACC gained 0.14% to Rs 935.10 after it reported 9.67% growth in cement despatches to 1.70 million tonnes in June 2007 from 1.55 million tonnes in June 2006.

IT stocks saw some unwinding as the Indian rupee opened at its highest level in over three weeks on Monday, 2 July 2007. Wipro (down 1.25% to Rs 512), Satyam Computers (down 0.21% to Rs 466), and TCS (down 1.07% to Rs 1136.90), edged lower.

However, Infosys Technologies was up 0.57% to Rs 1940.10, buoyed by rumors that the Indian IT major is mulling a bid to buy Europe’s largest IT services giant, Capgemini. Both Infosys Technologies and Capgemini have denied the takeover rumours which had first hit the market after trading hours on Thursday, 28 June 2007. Infosys Technologies will announce its first quarter June 2007 results on 11 July 2007.

The Indian was at 40.645/655 per dollar in early trade, slightly off its opening of 40.60, its strongest start since 6 June 2007. The rupee rose as traders built positions in the local unit on positive cues from high-yielding Asian currencies, and expectations of foreign investment flows.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped 0.83% to Rs 1,686.20, on 6.07 lakh shares. It had hit a high of Rs 1709.80.

Asian markets which were subdued earlier during the day, had recovered. Singapore's Straits Times (up 0.06% to 3,550.34), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 0.63% at 8,939.49) and Seoul Composite (up 1.59% at 1,771.35) edged higher.

China’s Shanghai Composite was back to positive zone, up 0.41% to 3,836.29 from early slide.

Japan's Nikkei was flat at 18,146.30. The Tankan report released by the Bank of Japan showed that the major manufacturers' business confidence index was unchanged at 23 in June 2007 from the previous survey in March 2007, while the index for large non-manufacturers was also unchanged at 22.

All the European indices were trading lower.

US stocks slipped on on Friday, 29 June 2007 as investors sold shares due to rising oil prices and lingering worries about subprime mortgage lending.

The Dow Jones lost 13.66 points, or 0.10%, to 13,408.62, after swinging dramatically higher and lower over the course of the day. Broader stock indicators also dipped. The S&P 500 index fell 2.36 points, or 0.16%, to 1,503.35, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.14 points, or 0.20%, to 2,603.23.

As per provisional data, FIIs were net buyers of Rs 558.59-crore equities while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 161.66 crore on Friday, 29 June 2007