The Sensex opened 18 points lower at 10,258 amid mixed cues from the global markets. The index, thereafter, recovered and rallied to a high of 10,386 on the back of steady buying in select index heavyweights like - ICICI Bank, HDFC and Reliance.
A sudden bout of profit-taking in mid-noon trades saw the index erase gains and slip into red. The index tumbled all the way to a low of 10,151 - down 235 points from the morning high. The index, however, soon recovered from the day's low and rebounded into the positive zone. Late buying saw the index surge to the day's high of 10,392 - up 241 points from the day's low in a matter of less than an hour.
The Sensex finally settled with a gain of 60 points at 10,336. In the process, the index has now rallied over 7% (689 points) in the first four trading sessions of this year.
The BSE Metal index surged 2% to 5,987. The Bankex and auto index rallied around 1.5% each to 5,970 and 2,592, respectively. On the other hand, the Realty index plunged 4% to 2,366.
The market breadth was marginally negative at close - out of 2,606 stocks traded, 1,271 declined, 1,244 advanced and 91 were unchanged today.
INDEX MOVERS...
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Grasim zoomed 8.3% to Rs 1,335, and ACC soared 7.7% to Rs 545.
Jaiprakash Associates, Satyam and Mahindra & Mahindra surged 7.3% each to Rs 101, Rs 179 and Rs 318, respectively.
HDFC Bank rallied 5.5% to Rs 1,100. ICICI Bank and Sterlite gained over 4.5% each at Rs 523 and Rs 316, respectively.
Tata Motors and HDFC moved up over 3.5% each to Rs 186 and Rs 1,684, respectively.
BHEL advanced 2.3% to Rs 1,471. Ranbaxy and Hindustan Unilever were up around 1.5% each at Rs 253 and Rs 247, respectively.
...AND THE SHAKERS
Reliance Communications and DLF plunged around 5.5% each to Rs 249 and Rs 280, respectively.
Bharti Airtel slumped over 4% to Rs 657. Tata Power tumbled over 3% to Rs 805.
Reliance Infrastructure and SBI shed 2.8% each at Rs 647 and Rs 1,324, respectively.
NTPC dropped 2.3% to Rs 177, and TCS declined 1.5% to Rs 508.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 275 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 241 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 177.50 crore), Satyam (Rs 165.15 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 155.50 crore).
Unitech led the volume chart with trades of around 3.07 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (2.48 crore), Suzlon Energy (2.17 crore), IFCI (2.06 crore) and Jaiprakash Associates (1.24 crore).