ITC, RIL lead Sensex bounceback at close

The Sensex resumed six points lower over its previous close at 6,272.

The first half saw the index recover marginally from an early slump of 6,232 in mid-morning trades, before the announcement of a hike in repo rates by the RBI dragged the banking and the markets lower in early noon trades.

While the sentiment remained lacklustre in the mid-noon trades, the Sensex rebounded into the green towards the fag-end to touch a high of 6,294 following smart rally in select heavyweights and other old economy counters.

The Sensex finally ended the session with a gain of six points at 6,284. The Nifty, too, added six points to close at 1,941.

ITC rallied sharply towards the closing hours and shot up 3.57% (Rs 50) to Rs 1,452. While Reliance clocked a per cent gain (Rs 4) to Rs 543, ONGC was up Rs 4 at Rs 835. HLL was marginally up at Rs 143, after remaining weak for better part of the trading session.

Bharti, on impressive earnings report, moved up 2.72%
(Rs 5) to Rs 208. HDFC rose 2.51% (Rs 18) to Rs 749.

Ranbaxy jumped 1.11% (Rs 10) to Rs 918. While Cipla recovered from its lows to end 1.22% higher (Rs 3) at Rs 258, Dr. Reddy's slipped a per cent (Rs 7) to Rs 649.

Satyam logged nearly 2% gains (Rs 8) to Rs 418, and Wipro was up Rs 3 at Rs 639. Infosys, however, remained weak through the session and lost a per cent (Rs 15) to Rs 1,905.

SBI tumbled 2.58% (Rs 16) to Rs 604. While ICICI Bank dropped 2.41% (Rs 9) to Rs 375, HDFC Bank ended weak at Rs 536 - down Rs 3.

BHEL dropped 2.16% (Rs 18) to Rs 803, while Reliance Energy lost 1.94% (Rs 10) to Rs 485. Tisco and Zee were down nearly 2% each at Rs 343 (down Rs 6) and Rs 130 (down Rs 3), respectively.

Tata Motors and Maruti were down a per cent each at Rs 429 and Rs 415, respectively. Bajaj ended marginally lower at Rs 1,091, while Hero Honda advanced 2.34% (Rs 12) to Rs 516.