The market weakened in late trading today. After a firm opening, selling pressure pulled Sensex below the 13,800 mark towards the close of the trading session. However, shares from the capital goods sector outperformed, in anticipation of robust set of results in the forthcoming quarter.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex lost 59.43 points to 13,786.91. It had opened higher at 13873.03, following a smooth rollover from December 2006 derivative contracts to January 2007 contracts. It also touched an intra-day high of 13,929.10 at 10:03 IST, as buying continued. Sensex slipped to a low of 13770.06, in late trade.

The S&P; CNX Nifty lost 4.15 points or 0.10% to 3966.40

The wholesale price index rose 5.43% in 12 months to 16 December, higher than the previous week's annual rise of 5.32% due to an increase in manufactured product prices, data showed on Friday. The annual inflation rate was 4.62% during the corresponding week of the previous year.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3419 crore as compared to Rs 4193 crore on Thursday.

The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1386 shares advancing, as compared to 1233 shares that declined. 71 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap Index rose 52 points to 5807 while the BSE Small-Cap index advanced 55 points to 6891.

The market ended calendar 2006 on a strong note, with the Sensex gaining 46.7% to settle at 13,786.91, which a less than 200 points off its all time closing high of 13,972.03 of 7 December 2006. It had struck an all time high of 14035.30 on 6 December 2006. The S&P; CNX Nifty gained 39.8% for the calendar year 2006. Banking, telecom, IT and cement shares hogged the limelight in 2006.

In todays trade, 22 stocks from the Sensex pack declined while the rest advanced.

FMCG major HLL was the top loser, down 1.82% to Rs 216.30 on 13.47 lakh shares.

Reliance Communications (RCL) declined 1.34% to Rs 471 on 14.19 lakh shares. It said on Thursday, it is examining the opportunity in mobile operator Hutchison Essar and that a potential combination could create compelling value for all shareholders. Chairman Anil Ambani also told a news conference the company had received commitments from global bankers for financial support for any potential bid. Ambani said there was no certainty on the timing of a bid and declined to say how much the firm would offer, saying it would remain within a conservative limit. Meanwhile, RCL plans to invest $1.5 billion to expand capacity of its Flag Telecom submarine cable network.

Tata Motors (down 1.36% to Rs 893) and Gujarat Ambuja Cements (down 1.15% to Rs 141.90) were the other losers.

ONGC (down 1.20% to Rs 867) ONGC may have to return 5 blocks in diff parts of the country

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 0.52% to Rs 1270 on 7.45 lakh shares. It has slipped from high of Rs 1288.40

Tata Steel was the top gainer, up 1.76% to Rs 484.90 on expectations there will be further consolidation in the steel industry. Meanwhile, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata was quoted as saying in an interview that the Tata group sees a limit to how far it can stretch to buy Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus Group Plc without compromising shareholders' interests.

Dr Reddys Lab gained 1.43% to Rs 811 after it received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for cholesterol-lowering simvastatin tablets. Simvastatin is the generic equivalent of Merck & Co. Inc.'s blockbuster drug Zocor.

Cement major ACC gained 1.05% to Rs 1085 on 1.65 lakh shares. It moved in range of Rs 1072.10 -1098.90.

BSE Bankex slipped 0.20%, or 14.29 points, to 7085.73. Private sector banking shares witnessed renewed buying interest while state run banks finished lower. Punjab National Bank (down 1.30% to Rs 506), Indian Overseas Bank (down 0.30% to Rs 111.70), Bank of Baroda (down 1.82% to Rs 240.15), Oriental Bank of Commerce (down 2.46% to Rs 226.30), HDFC Bank (down 0.86% to Rs 1069.70), Canara Bank (down 0.15% to Rs 275), and ICICI Bank (down 1.10% to Rs 889) declined while SBI (up 0.75% to Rs 1245.35), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 5.35% to Rs 399.90), Bank of India (up 0.80% to Rs 207) advanced.

Nissan Copper settled at a sharp 230.25% premium at Rs 128.80 on BSE on high total volumes of 6.11 crore shares the shares were issued at Rs 39 per share in the recently concluded IPO. The stock debuted at Rs 40 on BSE and hit a high of Rs 135.70 and low of Rs 40 for the day.

Clariant Chemicals (India) advanced 4.21% to Rs 337.90 after two block deals of 12.50 lakh shares each were struck on the counter on BSE at an average price of Rs 321.50 per share. This deal roughly amounts to 10% of equity shares capital of the company. Details of buyers and sellers were not known immediately. The stock had surged to a high of Rs 357.80 after the deal was executed.

Shares from the capital goods sector outperformed, with the BSE Capital Goods index advancing 1.12%. BEML (up 7.63% to Rs 1015.60), Areva T&D; (up 5.12% to Rs 1043), Jyoti Structures (up 5.10% to Rs 132.45), ABB (up 3.68% to Rs 3711), Praj Industries (up 3.60% to Rs 192.60) and SFK Bearings (up 2.48% to Rs 273) being some of the key gainers in the capital goods space.

Gammon India surged 10% to Rs 421.55 after reports that it has emerged as top bidder for Mumbai port project.

Sadbhav Engineering gained 1.90% to Rs 511 after the company said it had achieved financial closure of a major road construction project. In early August 2006, Sadbhav had bagged a Rs 560-crore road construction project to improve and widen the Sardar Patel Ring Road around Ahmedabad from the city's urban development authority. It has now achieved financial closure of this project.

Lanco Infratech gained 1.48% to Rs 253.50 after it entered into a memorandum of understanding with Jharkhand government for a 2,640 MW coal based power plant. With this, the total capacity of Lanco, both in operation and in process will go up to about 11,000 MW.

Thermax jumped 5.32% to Rs 390 after the company said on Thursday it would invest $8 million to set up a plant in China to manufacture absorption chillers. Thermax also said it would set up a subsidiary in China.

Printing ink maker Micro Inks advanced 4% to Rs 333.10 after it said on Thursday its US subsidiary had entered into a supply deal worth about $3 million with St. Ives Inc. Micro Inks said the deal for the supply of heatset ink was for one year.

Drug maker Aurobindo Pharma gained 1.88% to Rs 705 following media reports that the company is likely to announce on Friday acquisition of a Dutch formulations firm for more than $20 million. The target company had several market authorisations and would enable Aurobindo to expand faster in Europe, a newspaper report said.

Varun Shipping Company rose 2.75% to Rs 65.30 after the company said on Thursday it was buying a very large gas carrier. The vessel is expected to join Varun's fleet by July 2007, the company said in a statement. It did not specify the size of the deal. With this, the company said it would have spent half of the $400 million it earmarked for fleet expansion.

Eicher slipped 5% to Rs 176.45 after parent Eicher Goodearth offered to buy 25.16% public shareholding in the company at a floor price of 150 rupees a share and delist the company.

Titan Industries jumped 7.10% to Rs 855.70 following reports it is betting big on its precision engineering division. Titan reportedly expects revenue from precision engineering division to go up to Rs 400 crore in four years from Rs 50 crore this year. Titans precision engineering division makes dashboard clocks and precision components for the aerospace and automotive industries. Titan expects to post over Rs 2,000 crore revenue for the current fiscal, against Rs 1,481 crore last year. Of this, the jewellery business is expected to contribute Rs 1,100 crore and the watch business will post revenue of around Rs 900 crore.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) added 26 new