Sensex down 3 pts; VSNL zooms 18%

After opening on a weak note with a negative gap of nine points at 7,298, the index touched a high of 7,352 in early morning deals. Selling commenced soon after, and the index dropped to a low of 7,218 - a drop of 134 points from the intra-day high.

The recovery, too, was remarkable, and the index moved into positive zone towards the closing bell. The Sensex finally finished with a marginal loss of 3 points at 7,304.

While 16 index scrips advanced with a volume of 1.13 crore shares for Rs 448 crore, 14 declined with a volume of 57 lakh shares totalling Rs 489 crore.

ONGC gained 1.8% (Rs 16) to Rs 941, and ITC shot up 2.3% (Rs 39) to Rs 1,744. Reliance ended higher at Rs 638 - up Rs 5.

ICICI Bank moved up over 3% (Rs 14) to Rs 467. While SBI, after a mixed outing, finished higher at Rs 718 (up Rs 3), HDFC Bank slipped a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 658.

Tata Motors flared up 4% (Rs 18) to Rs 467. While Hero Honda moved up 2.7% (Rs 16) to Rs 608, Maruti added 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 456. Bajaj, however, was down a per cent (Rs 18) at Rs 1,380.

ACC rose over 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 421. Other cement majors also ended in the green with steady gains.

Infosys tumbled over 4% (Rs 95) to Rs 2,220 after reporting a 37% rise in consolidated Q1 bottomline. While TCS crashed 3% (Rs 42) to Rs 1,285, Wipro shed 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 702. Satyam was down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 496.

Dr. Reddy's dropped 2.8% (Rs 22) to Rs 758, and Ranbaxy slipped a per cent (Rs 9) to Rs 1,052. Cipla, however, gained 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 326.

The BSE Teck index declined 1.6% (30 points) to 1,869. The BSE Capital Goods, Metal and Healthcare indices, too, finished with losses today.

The BSE Consumer Durables index zoomed over 4% (102 points) to 2,433. The BSE Oil&Gas, FMCG, Bankex and Auto indices also closed at higher levels.

The broad market finished on a bearish note- out of 2,547 scrips traded, 1,306 declined, 1,166 advanced and 75 were unchanged.

Yes Bank, which was listed at Rs 65 today, touched a high of Rs 70 and low of Rs 60 before closing at Rs 60.80 - a gain of Rs 15.80 (35%) agains the IPO price of Rs 45 per share. The counter logged a volume of over 2.61 crore shares, and was the fifth most active counter with a turnover of Rs 162 crore.

VSNL zoomed over 18% (Rs 51) to Rs 329.

Centurion Bank, which reported a 251% rise in Q1 net yesterday, advanced nearly 23% to Rs 17.

NDTV, which announced that GA European Investments will take 7% stake in the company, was marginally lower at Rs 259.

Yes Bank topped the volume chart followed by HFCL (1.10 crore shares) and SRF (84 lakh shares).

SRF was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 242 crore followed by Infosys (Rs 222 crore) and Titan (Rs 181 crore).