Monday, November 21 2005 11:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) today (Nov 21, 2005) met with resistance after rising past 8700 mark in fairly high volatility during morning trade and showed signs of correction as operators preferred to book profits at the prevailing price levels.

The Sensex has gained by over 1000 points in the last three weeks and needed a correction for the good health of the market, brokers said.

The Sensex opened firm at 8699.27 as against Friday's close of 8686.65 and even rallied past 8700 level to a high of 8713.10. However, it fell back to a low of 8622.81 before being quoted at 8640.39, down by 46.26 points from last close.

Operators and retailers were seen booking profits at higher levels in the light of a slowdown in FII inflows in the last week.

The market has risen sharply in a short period of twelve trading days in the current month and a technical correction is overdue, brokers said.

Heavyweights like RIL, Infosys Tech, L&T, HDFC Bank, SBI, Maruti Udyog, Tata Steel, TCS Ltd, Satyam Computers, REL, Hero Honda, Bharti Tele-Venture, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and GACL were quoted moderately lower due to selling pressure.

However, ACC, Bajaj Auto, BHEL, Dr Reddy's Lab, Grasim, HLL, ONGC, Tata Motors and Wipro showed moderate gains.