Bank scrips lead rally, Sensex up 44pts

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 51 points at 13,476, and crossed the 13,500-mark in moring deals to touch a new all-time high of 13,506.

Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index shed gains, and drop to a low of 13,391 - a swing of 115 points in morning deals.

Buying emerged in banking stocks in late morning deals, and the index crossed the 13,500-mark again in noon deals. The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 44 points at 13,469.

The Bankex zoomed nearly 3% (196 points) to 7060. The PSU Index was up 1% at 6138.

The broad market mood was bearish - out of 2,605 scrips traded, 1,510 declined and 1,031 advanced today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

SBI advanced 4.5% (Rs 51) to Rs 1,178. ICICI Bank moved up 2.8% (Rs 24) to Rs 881. HDFC Bank ended up 1.4% (Rs 15) at Rs 1,077.

Gujarat Ambuja, ACC and Grasim closed with gains of over 1% each at Rs 137, Rs 1,020 and Rs 2,708, respectively.

Bharti moved up 1.5% (Rs 9) to Rs 579. Infosys was up Rs 13 at Rs 2,223.

HLL slipped nearly 2% (Rs 5) to Rs 243. Reliance was down over 1% (Rs 15) at Rs 1,262.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Mahindra Gesco topped the value chart with trades of over Rs 314 crore followed by Hindustan Zinc (Rs 187 crore), Punj Lloyd (Rs 181 crore), Tech Mahindra (Rs 175 crore) and Glenmark Pharma (Rs 162 crore).