Sensex ends firm on late rally; RCom zooms 11%

Markets today displayed high volatility, before signing off on a postive note. The Sensex, after a flat opening, had gained on the back of auto and capital goods stocks. However, weakness in Asian markets saw the index drop to a low of 16,571. Once again, the Sensex regained strength and surged 203 points from the low to touch a high of 16,774.

The Sensex finally ended near the intra-day high with gains of 170 points at 16,741.

The Nifty ended up 49 points at 5,019.

Asian markets ended in red. The Nikkei dropped 1% to 9,603. Taiwan Weighted was down 1% at 7,196.

BSE TecK index surged 2% to 3,147. The auto, realty and IT indices were other major movers and gained over 1% each.

Reliance Communications soared 11% to Rs 155 amid talks of more than one foreign company eyeing stake. Bharti Airtel surged 5% to Rs 270.

Reliance Infrastructure gained 4% at Rs 1,084. ONGC added 3.3% to Rs 1,182.

Auto stocks too rallied smartly after announcing good sales numbers for the month of May. Hero Honda rallied 3.2% to Rs 1,980. Tata Motors jumped 2.6% to Rs 745. Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki added 1.5% each.

Larsen & Toubro and SBI moved up 2.2% each to Rs 1629 and Rs 2258, respectively.

Jaiprakash Associates, Hindustan Unilever, TCS and DLF were other big gainers.

However, Tata Power dropped 1.3% to Rs 1,243. Wipro was down 1% at Rs 650.

Metal stocks - Hindalco and Jindal Steel also ended marginally in red.

Cement stocks also gained on good sales growth. Ambuja Cement added 3% to Rs 110. Prism Cement surged 2.3% to Rs 55. Sensex stock, ACC, added 1% at Rs 826.

The BSE market breadth was positive through the day. Out of 2,889 stocks traded, 1,663 advanced while 1,088 declined.

Reliance Communications topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 163.09 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 156.70 cr), Sesa Goa (Rs 119.50 cr), Tata Motors (Rs 97.30 cr) and SBI (Rs 89.38 cr).