The market swayed between gains and losses ahead of expiry of December 2007 derivative contracts. It notched up small gains by close. 16 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in red. The market breadth was strong.

ICICI Bank moved up. Consumer durables, and metal stocks were in demand. Telecom, auto and IT stocks declined. Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, were mixed. European markets, which opened after Indian market, were in green.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 24.20 points or 0.12% to 20,216.72. Sensex hit a low of 20,159.73 in afternoon trade. At days low, the Sensex shed 32.79 points. Sensex had hit a high of 20,323.76 in early trade. At days high, the Sensex gained 131.24 points.

The broader CNX S&P; Nifty rose 10.75 points or 0.18% to 6081.50.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.30% to 9,428.86. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 2.32% to 12,628.74. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 2069 shares advanced as compared to 841 that declined. 43 shares were unchanged.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 8232 crore compared to Wednesday (26 December 2007)'s Rs 7,668.96 crore.

The NSE's futures & options (F&O;) segment turnover was Rs 94,658.80 crore, which was lower than Rs 96144.43 crore on Wednesday, 26 December 2007.

Nifty January 2007 futures were at 6126, a premium of 44.50 points compared to the spot closing of 6081.50.

Indias largest private sector firm by market capitalization & oil refiner Reliance Industries fell 0.08% to Rs 2894.35.

Indias largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank gained 1.85% to Rs 1242.

HDFC Bank rose 2.77% to Rs 1750, ITC gained 1.85% to Rs 203.35, Tata Steel moved up 1.52% to Rs 906.35, Reliance Energy gained 1.07% to Rs 2134.55 and Hindalco Industries climbed 0.67% to Rs 210.80.

Ranbaxy Laboratories declined 0.96% to Rs 411.50, Larsen & Toubro fell 0.79% to Rs 4160.70, Grasim Industries shed 0.75% to Rs 3590, State Bank of India slipped 0.69% to Rs 2382.70 and Cipla fell 0.46% to Rs 215.70.

Telecom stocks weakened on reports the Government on 26 December 2007 accepted the spectrum review committees recommendation of allocating additional frequency to existing GSM operators based on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias (TRAI) subscriber-linked formula and in multiples of 1 megahertz (MHz). Indias largest listed cellular service provider by market share Bharti Airtel slipped 1.65% to Rs 966.30 and Indias second largest listed telecom service provider by sales Reliance Communications fell 1.66% to Rs 730.80.

The Government has also decided to file an affidavit in the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) and the Delhi High Court, where the GSM operators have challenged the government on spectrum allocation norms.

The BSE Auto index fell 0.65% to 5,606.39. It underperformed the Sensex. Amtek Auto slipped 3.04% to Rs 428.50, Apollo Tyres declined 2.42% to Rs 48.40, Tata Motors skid 2.05% to Rs 736.70, and Bajaj Auto declined 0.35% to Rs 2672.45.

India's top tractor maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra gave away 0.68% to Rs 827.90 despite the reports the company is planning to enter the highly-competitive UK market with its flagship model Scorpio next year.

The BSE IT index declined 0.50% to 4,569.14. It underperformed the Sensex. Satyam Computers dropped 1.72% to Rs 451.40, Infosys Technologies shed 0.51% to Rs 1804.30, and Financial Technologies gave away 2.72% to Rs 2411.6. However, Wipro rose 2.54% to Rs 549.30 and TCS moved up 0.22% to Rs 1100.20.

The BSE Consumer Durables index rose 1.79% to 6,339.10. It outperformed the Sensex. Diversified firm Videocon Industries spurted 10% to Rs 683.75 on reports the company plans to hive off its power business by January 2008 and it may later sell stake in the power business to private investors or partners. Reports suggest Videocon's power business may be worth around Rs 15,000 crore.

Gitanjali Gems gained 2.17% to Rs 45.75, and Asian Star Company rose 0.94% to Rs 1330.50.

The BSE Metal index rose 0.91% to 19,467.11. It outperformed the Sensex. National Aluminium Company soared 9.76% to Rs 480.85, Steel Authority of India gained 1.17% to Rs 273.20, and Sterlite Industries gained 1.08% to Rs 1037.90.

Tata group firm VSNL fell 1.04% to Rs 738.15 after the company said on Wednesday 26 December 2007 it sold a 10% equity stake in its Sri Lankan subsidiary, VSNL Lanka.

State run mining firm National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) was locked at upper limit of 5% at Rs 12539.40 after the company said its board at its meeting held today, 27 December 2007 approved issuing two bonus shares for one share held and splitting one equity share of Rs 10 each into ten shares of Rs 1 each.

Essar Oil clocked the highest turnover of Rs 272.94 crore on BSE. Reliance Energy (Rs 225.15 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 179.46 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 173.05 crore) and Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (Rs 120 crore), were the other turnover topper on BSE in that order.

IKF Technologies registered highest volumes of 2.62 crore shares. GV FIlms (1.95 crore shares), Himachal Futuristic Communications (1.86 crore shares), Maars Software (1.71 crore shares) and Arvind Remedies (1.50 crore shares), were the other volume toppers on BSE in that order.

Key indices in Europe were in green. Germany's DAX was up 0.74% and UK's FTSE 100 was up 0.26%.

Some of the key Asian indices turned negative after a firm opening today, 27 December 2007. Key indices in China, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were up between 0.05% to 1.93%. However, key indices in Japan and Hong Kong were down between 0.57% to 0.64%.

US markets closed almost unchanged on Wednesday, 26 December 2007. Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.36 points at 13,552. Nasdaq Composite index gained 11 points at 2,724 and the S&P; 500 index advanced 1.21 points at 1,498.

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