Wednesday, July 13 2005 17:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (July 13, 2005) corrected downwards after profit taking pulled down the market by 56 points in volatile trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) amid sustained FII inflows.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened steady at 7303.19 and later fluctuated erratically in a range of 7338.01 and 7236.78 before ending the day at 7247.91 against yesterday's close of 7303.95, a net fall of 56.04 points or 0.77 per cent.

The market witnessed scrip-specific activity even as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) reportedly made fresh purchases in heavy-weighted counters, absorbing sizeable chunk of sales made by domestic mutual funds.

Operators and retail investors also were believed to be sellers in a number of blue chip counters.

FIIs, which have been consistent net buyers in equity in the past five weeks, reported net investments of Rs 322.30 crore on July 8 and Rs 462.50 crore on July 11.

Attributing the sell-off by investors to disappointing first quarter working results announced by IT major Infosys Technologies as also to the overheated market, brokers said local funds booked profits at higher price levels right from the commencement of the trading.

The benchmark had risen past 7300-level, gaining by over 585 points or 8.71 per cent in the last six weeks compared to the close of 6715.11 on May 31.

Key counters like RIL, ONGC, Satyam Computer, TCS Ltd, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Grasim, ITC Ranbaxy, Infosys Tech, HDFC, HDFC Bank and Maruti Udyog recorded sharp losses.

However, SBI, Wipro, Tat Power, L&T, Hero Honda and BHEL showed handsome gains.