Markets pare gains; Realty index weighs

Volatility was the order of the day as the Sensex moved in a range of 17,778 and 17,408.

The markets opened soft on the back of cues from Asian markets. However, Sensex staged a sharp recovery and surged to a high of 17,778 as index heavy-weight, Reliance, jumped.

Speculation that the IMD will have good news about the arrival of monsoons spurred the market's rally.

However selling pressure resumed in late noon trades and the Sensex started slipping. The index finally ended at 17,574- up 101 points.

The Nifty ended up 24 points at 5,269. Through the day, the Nifty had touched a low of 5,221 and a high of 5,332.

The IMD is set to forecast the arrival of monsoons tomorrow. After the previous year's harrowing monsoons, a good rainfall this year would benefit most of the companies.

The inflation numbers were also announced today. The food price index rose 17.65 per cent in the 12 months to April 10, marginally higher than an annual rise of 17.22 per cent in the previous week. This would put upside pressure on the headline inflation and Reserve Bank to take action before its next policy review in July.

The BSE oil & gas index jumped 1.2% to 10,028. The auto index gained 1% to 7,748. Other gainers included bankex and FMCG indices. However, realty languished in red the whole day and finally ended with a loss of 1.3% at 3,579.

Market heavy-weight, Reliance, and SBI helped the index to rally. SBI surged over 5% to Rs 2,222. Reliance gained 2% at Rs 1,076.

Tata Motors jumped 3.3% to Rs 836. Hindustan Unilever added 2% to Rs 237.

Jaiprakash Associates advanced 1.7% at Rs 153. Hero Honda, Reliance Communications, HDFC, Tata Power and ITC were the other big gainers today.

However, Sun Pharma stayed in red the whole day. The stock shed 2% at Rs 1,710. Tata Steel dropped 1.8% to Rs 657.

DLF, ACC and Reliance Infrastructure declined 1% each.

ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel also showed some weakness.

The BSE market breadth was marginally positive. Out of 2,997 stocks traded, 1,493 advanced while 1,405 declined.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS...

SBI has topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 357.55 crore, followed Tata Motors (Rs 181.28 crore), Reliance (Rs 143.32 crore), Tata Steel (110.86 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 88.15 crore).

FCS Software led the volume chart with trades of 20.82 million shares, followed by Birla Power (9.39 million), Mangalore Chemical (6.17 million), Unitech (5.68 million) and Gammon Infrastructure (4.7 million).