The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 152 points at 10,110 on the back of the current upmove in global markets. The index, thereafter, displayed range-bound trend for a major part of the trading day.
Fresh buying - mainly in metal, oil and select banking stocks - towards the end helped the index surge to a high of 10,306. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 317 points at 10,276. In the process, the index has now gained 6.5% (629 points) in the first three trading sessions of this year.
The BSE Metal index surged 5.5% to 5,869. The Oil & Gas index also soared over 5% to 6,560. The Bankex added 3.5% to 5,875.
The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,613 stocks traded so far, 1,680 advanced, 859 declined and the rest were unchanged.
INDEX MOVERS...
Sterlite zoomed nearly 10% to Rs 302. Tata Power and Jaiprakash Associates soared around 7.5% each to Rs 830 and Rs 94, respectively.
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Tata Steel, ONGC and Reliance surged around 6.5% each to Rs 245, Rs 724 and Rs 1,366, respectively.
ICICI Bank rallied 6% to Rs 500. Reliance Infrastructure, HDFC and Reliance Communications gained 5.5% each at Rs 666, Rs 1,628 and Rs 264, respectively.
Hindalco, Larsen & Toubro and Infosys were up around 4% each at Rs 58, Rs 854 and Rs 1,174, respectively.
...AND THE SHAKERS
Satyam slumped 6% to Rs 167 amid reports of a likely takeover.
Bharti Airtel shed 2.8% at Rs 685. NTPC, DLF and Hindustan Unilever were down around 1.5% each at Rs 181, Rs 296 and Rs 244, respectively.
SHINING METALs, ENERGY & BANKING STOCKS
Among the metal pack, Hindustan Zinc zoomed over 8% to Rs 385. Jindal Saw Pipes, SAIL, Jindal Steel and Gujarat NRE Coke surged 5-7% each.
Cairn India rallied nearly 6% to Rs 182. Aban Offshore, Gail India and Reliance Petroleum moved up 2-4% each.
IndusInd Bank zoomed nearly 10% to Rs 46. Yes Bank soared over 8% to Rs 88. Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank and Axis Bank gained 3-7% each.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 292.60 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 193.15 crore), Satyam (Rs 189.15 crore), Unitech (Rs 152.10 crore) and DLF (Rs 146.75 crore).
Unitech led the volume chart with trades of around 3.18 crore shares followed by IFCI (2.51 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.88 crore), Suzlon Energy (1.30 crore) and Satyam (1.12 crore).