The market which had opened on a strong note tracking firm global equities, slipped sharply in the red, after striking an all-time high. Construction and realty shares which were buzzing with activity ahead of the listing of DLF, came under selling pressure today. DLF was hovering at a small premium over IPO price.

At 11:28 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 110.94 points to 14,769.30. The barometer index 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 pared gains later to touch a low of 14,768.41 by 11:28 IST.

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.

The market breadth which was positive in morning session, turned negative on BSE, as small and mid-cap shares succumbed to selling. 1678 shares declined as compared to 622 shares that advanced, while 64 remained unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 24 declined while the rest advanced.

Realty major DLF was hovering at Rs 541.25, a premium of 3% over the IPO price of Rs 525. The scrip debuted at Rs 582. Thereafter, it touched a high of Rs 714.25 and a low of Rs 505.60 so far during the day. On BSE, 1.58 crore shares were traded in the counter. The 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.

Engineering and construction major L&T; advanced 2.21% to Rs 2,342, on 1.66 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. L&T; will float five new companies to ensure better corporate governance as well as attracting talent. The companies will operate in L&Ts; new business areas of power projects, boilers, turbines, water and shipbuilding.

Car major Maruti Udyog gained 1.11% to Rs 800 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.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) slumped 1.80% to Rs 1685, on 2.48 lakh shares

Cement major ACC was the top loser from the Sensex pack. It shed 2.96% to Rs 993.70 on volumes of 1.63 lakh shares.

Other cement shares, Ambuja Cements (down 3.16% to Rs 125.85) and Grasim (down 1.96% to Rs 2686), also declined.

Ranbaxy (down 2.28% to Rs 359.30), Reliance Energy (down 2.81% to Rs 594.15) and Bharti Airtel (down 1.45% to Rs 847) were the other losers

Shares of construction firms and property developers were hammered today on profit booking after recent surge. Era Construction (down 9% to Rs 412), Ansal Infrastructures (down 7.90% to Rs 285.70), Unitech (down 6.20% to Rs 519), Madhucon Projects (down 3.79% to Rs 231), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 7.16% to Rs 420.50), Parsvnath Developers (down 6.96% to Rs 352), and Sobha Developers (down 4.79% to Rs 898.95), all edged lower.

Pidilite Industries rose 2.57% to Rs 127.50 after its Brazilian unit acquired shares in an adhesive and sealant maker in that country. The company made the announcement after market hours on Wednesday, 4 July 2007. The company did not disclose any financial details about the acqusition.

Zensar Technologies was down 0.21% to Rs 335. There are reports that the Pune-based IT service provider is looking at acquiring a company in Europe to gain access to the non-English speaking market. The size of the acquisition would be in the range of $4-5 million.

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 0.55% at 18,268.83.

Hang Seng (up 0.35% at 22,215.78), South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 1.18% at 1,860.09), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 0.80% at 9,141.74) and Singapore's Straits Times (up 0.35% at 3,567.45) all edged higher.

Chinas Shanghai Composite was down 2.72% to 3,712.38

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.

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