Sensex snaps 5-day losing streak; fails to keep early gains

Mumbai, Feb 2 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
benchmark Sensex snapped its 5-day losing streak but failed to
maintain initial sharp gains due to fag-end profit booking,
mainly in power and capital goods sectors, and closed about 68
points up at 18,090.62.
Smart rise in heavyweights like RIL, ICICI Bank, TCS,
Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel helped the Sensex rise.
As news of former Telecom Minister A Raja's arrest, along
with his two former associates in connection with the 2G
spectrum scam, filtered in, the market washed out major part
of its early gains.
Initially, the Sensex shot up to a high at 18,306.00, up
nearly 284 points, on fresh buying in Realty, Oil & Gas, Metal
and IT on strong global cues.
However, fag-end selling pressure pulled it down to close
at 18,090.62, showing a gain of just 68.40 points or 0.38 per
cent from the last close.
In the last five straight sessions, the Sensex had
tumbled 1,129.06 points or 5.90 per cent.
The NSE 50-issue Nifty also recovered moderately by 14.80
points or 0.27 per cent to end at 5,432.00 points.
Recently battered realty counters attracted good buying
support at lower levels, resulting the sectoral BSE-Realty
index rising by 51.24 points or 2.40 per cent and was the top
gainer followed by refinery and tech segments.
However, power and capital goods were at the receiving
end on profit-booking.