Sensex cracks 8,500, Reliance, Infosys lead rally

The Sensex created history by crossing the 8,500-mark today.

The index opened with a negative gap of 32 points at 8,413, and dipped to a low of 8,376 in morning deals. Then the mood turned, and there was no looking back....

The index zoomed past the 8,500-mark to touch a historic high of 8,515 - an intra-day rally of 139 points. The Sensex finally closed on a bullish note at 8,500 - a gain of 55 points (0.66%).

The sectoral indices closed on a mixed note. The BSE Bankex advanced over 2% (103 points) to 5,107. The BSE Teck index was up a per cent (21 points) at 2,165. The BSE Oil & Gas Index was up 0.87% (34 points) at 3,922.

The BSE Consumer Durables Index declined 1.8% (48 points) to 2,620. The BSE Metal, Auto and Healthcare indices also declined.

The board market mood, however, was extremely bearish - out of 2,667 scrips traded, 2,020 declined, 620 advanced and 27 were unchanged today.

Infosys gained 2% (Rs 49) to Rs 2,497. While Satyam was up 2.6% (Rs 14) at Rs 555, TCS added Rs 17 to Rs 1,471.

Reliance moved up 2% (Rs 14) to Rs 778. ONGC was up Rs 9 at Rs 1,030. ITC declined Rs 10 to Rs 1,929, and HLL was down Rs 2 at Rs 175.

ICICI Bank advanced 4% (Rs 22) to Rs 578. HDFC Bank added 3% (Rs 20) to Rs 730.

L&T added 1.6% (Rs 22) to Rs 1,403. BHEL gained Rs 16 to Rs 1,128.

HDFC declined Rs 23 to Rs 1,029. Tata Steel, Wipro, ACC, Grasim, Bajaj and Bharti also declined.

Reliance was the most active counter with a turnover of over Rs 269 crore followed by SRF (Rs 175 crore), Sesa Goa (Rs 116 crore), Satyam (Rs 102 crore) and Amar Remedies (Rs 95 crore).