The market settled with nominal losses after swinging sharply during the day. The market opened on a strong note tracking firm global equities, but immediately slipped sharply into the red after striking an all-time high. It later recovering on value buying and on short covering. Auto shares were in demand, while IT pivotals were offloaded.

The BSE 30-share Sensex ended 18.84 points lower to 14,861.40, as per provisional closing. The barometer index had opened higher at 14,932.53 and surged to strike a record high of 14,963.26 at 09:58 IST as buying momentum intensified. But it faltered later to touch a low of 14,731.22 by 11:35 IST --- a fall of 149.02 points for the day.

The Sensex oscillated 242 points in the day in volatile trade.

The barometer index had gained 449 points, or 3.11%, in five trading sessions to 14,880.24 on Wednesday, 4 July 2007, from its close of 14,431.06 on 27 June 2007.

Real-estate major DLF settled at Rs 570.05, a premium of 8.57% over the IPO price of Rs 525 per share. The scrip debuted at Rs 582, and had touched a high of Rs 714.25 and a low of Rs 505.60 during the day on BSE. The counter saw high volumes of 3.42 crore shares on BSE.

The DLF IPO was subscribed 3.47 times. The IPO received total bids for 60.70 crore shares compared to issue size of 17.50 crore shares. Post-issue promoter holding in the company is 88.24%. The post-issue FII holding was 5.92%.

The market breadth remained weak on BSE: 1,656 shares declined as compared to 997 shares that advanced, while 71 remained unchanged. The breadth had turned negative from positive in mid-morning trade.

Among the Sensex pack, 18 declined while the rest advanced.

Private sector banking major ICICI Bank rose 1.80% to Rs 1003, on 11.77 lakh shares, following reports yesterday, 4 July 2007,that the department of industrial policy and promotion has approved ICICI Bank's plan to sell a 24% stake in ICICI Financial Services. ICICI Bank had recently said that its plant to sell stake in ICICI Financial Services to foreign investors was unlikely to get go ahead from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack

Engineering and construction major L&T advanced 1.46% to Rs 2,325, on 3.26 lakh shares after striking an all-time high of Rs 2364. L&T will float five new companies to ensure better corporate governance as well as attracting talent. The companies will operate in L&T’s new business areas of power projects, boilers, turbines, water and shipbuilding.

Auto stocks extended early gains on hopes that interest rates may soften. Car major Maruti Udyog advanced 1.74% to Rs 805 as buying continued after it recorded a 24% rise in sales in June 2007 on demand for its Swift hatchback and the new SX4 sedan. Maruti sold 59,917 cars, vans and sport-utility vehicles in India and overseas last month compared with 48,425 a year earlier.

Tata Motors rose 1.48% to Rs 708. The country's biggest truck and bus maker recorded 2% decline in sales in June 2007 as demand for commercial vehicles and cars fell. Tata Motors sold 44,317 commercial and passenger vehicles in India and overseas in June 2007.

Hero Honda Motors added 0.42% to Rs 688.50.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) recovered from a low of Rs 1,680.50, to settle at Rs 1710, on 5.90 lakh shares. The stock lost 0.33% for the day. The Committee of Secretaries (CoS), which met on 2 July 2007 to decide on the issue of gas pricing from RIL’s D6 fields in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin, has asked the power and fertiliser ministries to present their views before the committee on 5 July 2007. No decision was taken in the meeting even as the petroleum ministry pitched for a market-determined price of gas produced from NELP blocks.

Reliance Energy was the top loser from the Sensex pack. It shed 3.25% to Rs 591.50, on volumes of 9.10 lakh shares. The stock slipped on profit booking.

Ranbaxy (down 2.28% to Rs 359.30), HDFC (down 1.93% to Rs 1941.50) and Hindlaco (down 1.25% to Rs 154.65) were the other losers

IT stocks remained subdued. IT stocks Infosys Technologies (down 1.11% to Rs 1911.50), TCS (down 0.73% to Rs 1109.10), Satyam Computers (down 1.52% to Rs 464), and Wipro (down 0.95% to Rs 504.10) edged lower.

NTPC lost 1.51% to Rs 153 after large block deal of 39.19 lakh shares was executed in the counter on BSE at Rs 157.25 per share in opening trade.

The rupee remained stable at 40.45/46 on Thursday, 5 July 2007, against the US currency on the back of suspected intervention by the Reserve Bank. On Wednesday, 4 July 2007, the rupee had closed at fresh nine-year closing peak of 40.45/46 a dollar

Most of the Asian indices were trading higher on Thursday, 5 July 2007. Japan's Nikkei 225 index advanced as shares of exporters such as Sony Corp. and machinery makers such as Komatsu extended gains, while stocks in South Korea and Taiwan extended their record run from Wednesday. Nikkei gained 0.29% at 18,221.48.

Hang Seng (up 0.16% at 22,252.99), South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 0.51% at 1,847.79), and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 0.88% at 9,148.78) all edged higher.

But China’s Shanghai Composite plunged 5.25% to 3,615.87

All the European indices which had opened higher, slipped in the red later.

US markets were closed on Wednesday, 4 July 2007 for the Independence Day holiday.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 723.85-crore equities on Wednesday, 4 July 2007, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs 397.14- crore equities.