ITC, RIL lead Sensex rally, bank scrips slide

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of six points at 6,272, and soon slumped to an intra-day low of 6,232. After recovering marginally from the low in mid-morning trades, the index dipped again after the announcement of the repo rate hike by the RBI.

After moving steadily higher, thanks to buying in heavyweights like ITC, the Sensex rebounded into the green towards the fag-end and touched a high of 6,294.

The Sensex finally ended the session with a gain of six points at 6,284.

ITC rallied sharply towards the closing bell, 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.

The BSE Bankex declined 2.5% (92 points) to 3,701. Other sectoral indices closed on a mixed note.

BoI and Union Bank declined nearly 7% each to Rs 86 and Rs 103, respectively. BoB was down 3% at Rs 182. Allahabad Bank, PNB, OBC, Canara, Kotak, Vijaya, UTI Bank and IOB also declined.

The mood was distinctly bearish - out of 2,424 scrips traded, 1,377 declined, 965 moved up and 82 were unchanged today.

Reliance was the most active counter with a turnover of over Rs 156 crore followed by SBI (Rs 129 crore) and Gokaldas Exports (Rs 100 crore).