Sensex ends firmly above 8,600, Reliance at Rs 800

The Sensex opened 10 points higher at 8,536, and dropped to a low of 8,476 in noon deals. After moving in a narrow range for most part of the session, the index zoomed to a high of 8,614 - a bounce of 138 points from the intra-day low. The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 80 points (.94%) at  8,606.

All the sectoral indices, except BSE Teck and BSE Consumer Durables Index, moved up today. The BSE Oil & Gas Index zoomed 1.9% (74 points) to 4,020. The BSE PSU Index also gained 1.9% (93 points) to 5,130.

The BSE Bankex was up over 1.4% (70 points) at 5,120. The BSE MidCap was up 0.8% (33 points) at 4,234. The BSE Teck index was down three points at 2,115.

The breadth continued to be bearish - out of 2,601 scrips traded, 1,641 declined, 912 advanced and 48 were unchanged.

ONGC moved up 2.8% (Rs 29) to Rs 1,070. Reliance added 1.6% (Rs 13) to Rs 800, and SBI was up Rs 8 at Rs 936. HLL gained 2% (Rs 4) to Rs 184.

NTPC added 3% (Rs 3) to Rs 109. BHEL gained 2.6% (Rs 30) to Rs 1,164. Tata Power was up 2.7% (Rs 12) at Rs 464. L&T was up 2% (Rs 33) at Rs 1,473.

HDFC advanced 3.7% (Rs 37) to Rs 1,038. While HDFC Bank was up over 2% (Rs 15) at Rs 696, ICICI Bank was up Rs 11 at Rs 599.

Hero Honda gained 2% (Rs 14) to Rs 726, and Maruti added Rs 5 to Rs 564.

Dr. Reddy's was up Rs 3 at Rs 812. Cipla and Ranbaxy also moved up today.

ITC, Infosys, Tata Motors and Wipro declined today.

BEML zoomed 10% (Rs 82) to Rs 936. HMT advanced 5% to Rs 93. BPCL gained 4% to Rs 416. Chennai Petro and HPCL gained over 3% each today.

Himachal Futuristic zoomed 16% to Rs 25. Voltas gained 9% (Rs 42) to Rs 500. McDowell was up 8% (Rs 37) at Rs 475.

FCS Software was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 278 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 255 crore), Satyam (Rs 140 crore), McDowell (Rs 124 crore) and SBI (Rs 93 crore).