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Falling for the fifth straight day, the BSE benchmark Sensex on Wednesday closed 20 points lower after wiping out initial gains on a bout of profit-selling in bluechips like NTPC, CIL, ICICI Bank and L&T. The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share gauge resumed better and touched an intra-day high of 19,767.25, a rise of over 107 points, on the back of firm Asian stocks following a rally on Wall Street on Tuesday. However, profit-booking after the mid-session pulled the 30-share Sensex down to 19,639.72, a fall of 20.10 points or 0.10%. It has lost over 360 points in the last five sessions. Among notable losers on Wednesday, NTPC fell 2.12% to R152.30 ahead of the government's 9.5% stake sale at R145 per share. Coal India ended with over 2% loss, followed by L&T, ICICI Bank and HUL, which fell in 1.1-1.6% range. Jindal Steel and HDFC led the gainers on good buying. Traders said the market remained volatile during the session as firming global trend and selective buying saved the market from any major fall. The 50-issue S&P CNX Nifty of the NSE survived to end in positive terrain, snapping its four session of losses, at 5,959.20, up by a mere 2.30 points or 0.04%.

Morgan Stanley downgrades ACC

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday cut its ratings on ACC and two other cement companies to ‘equalweight’ from ‘overweight’, saying valuations already reflect expectations of firmer cement prices and a ‘structurally positive’ outlook for the sector. The

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