SBI, Reliance lead rally, Sensex ends up 170pts

The Sensex opened with a huge positive gap of 158 points at 13,954, and zoomed to a high of 14,026 in early deals. The index, thereafter, moved in a narrow range before closing on a firm note with a gain of 170 points (1.2%) at 13,966.

The BSE Bankex, and Oil & Gas and PSU indices gained over 2% to close at 7074, 7354 and 6533, respectively.

The market breadth was extremely bullish - out of 2,642 scrips traded, 1,641 logged gains and 916  declined.

BANK/OIL SCRIPS SIZZLE

SBI gained nearly 5% (Rs 56) to close at Rs 1,206. ICICI Bank moved up 2.5% to Rs 870.

Reliance moved up nearly 2% (Rs 31) to Rs 1,621. ONGC was up 2% at Rs 907.

Tata Steel gained nearly 4% to Rs 591. Gujarat Ambuja advanced 3.7% to Rs 124. HLL was up over 3% at Rs 192.

Dr. Reddy's slipped over 4% to Rs 655. Bajaj dropped 2% at Rs 2,660, and Hero Honda also declined 2% to Rs 690.

Bongaigon Refineries zoomed nearly 10% to Rs 53. Reliance Petroleum gained over 6% to Rs 92.

Dena Bank gained over 6% to Rs 41. Union Bank, Canara Bank, IDBI, OBC and PNB finished with gains of over 4% each.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Reliance was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 142 crore followed by Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs 136 crore), ICRA (Rs 133 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 104 crore) and Page Industries (Rs 86 crore).