Thursday, December 30 2004 18:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Heavy profit-taking drove the Sensex down by 45.40 points to close at 6522.54 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ahead of the expiry of the Futures & Options December contract today (Dec 30, 2004) and arrested a sharp five-session rally that took it to all-time highs.

The market, which opened on a positive note at 6583.74 from the overnight close of 6567.94, hit an early peak of 6608.30, before succumbing to hectic profit selling ahead of the year-end tomorrow, dealers said.

It dipped to a low of 6507.30, but light buying on dips partly cushioned the fall and it ended at 6522.54, down by 0.69 per cent, they added.

Selling was seen in most of the heavy-weighted counters like RIL, Infosys Tech, Tata Motors, Satyam Computers, ITC, Ranbaxy, Maruti, HDFC and ICICI Bank.

Software and cement shares attracted profit taking while auto stocks ruled mixed towards close on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

Dealers attributed the initial rally to the positive attitude shown by the Government towards the reform process, which sent the right signals to the FIIs. The Cabinet meeting yesterday allowed domestic private airlines to operate on international routes, except to Gulf countries.

Bucking the general weak trend, some of the banking and metal shares remained in the limelight on sustained buying support from institutional investors.