Sensex ends flat, ONGC gains 3%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 44 points at 9425, and moved up to a high of 9472 led by fresh buying in ONGC.

Selling pressure at higher levels saw the index drift to lower levels in late morning deals. Weakness in TCS, HDFC and HDFC Bank towards the closing bell saw the index drift into negative zone to a low of 9362 - down 110 points from the intra-day high.

The Sensex finally closed with a marginal loss of seven points at 9374. The index has declined 2.8% (266 points) during the week.

While the BSE Smallcap index gained 0.8% to 6258, the Midcap index was up 0.4% at 4647.

The BSE Metal index was down 0.6% at 6594. While the BSE Auto and Oil & Gas indices posted marginal gains at 4286 and 4462, respectively, the BSE Bankex and Teck index were marginally down at 5181 and 2393, respectively.

Gainers outpaced losers in the ratio of 1.1:1 - out of 2,592 stocks traded, 1,336 advanced, 1,187 declined and the rest were unmoved.

ONGC was the major gainer today. The stock surged to a high of Rs 1,230, and finally closed with a gain of 2.8% at Rs 1,216 with a volume of 2.14 lakh shares.

ICICI Bank at Rs 584 and Bajaj Auto at Rs 2,013 gained 1% each. Dr.Reddy's, Gujarat Ambuja, Larsen & Toubro, ITC and Reliance Energy also ended with gains today.

TCS dropped 1.6% to Rs 1,651. Satyam slipped over 1% to Rs 739. While Infosys moved up marginally to Rs 2,846, Wipro closed almost flat at Rs 460.

HDFC and HDFC Bank declined 1.7% each at Rs 1,180 and Rs 839, respectively.

BHEL, Grasim, Maruti and NTPC shed around 1% each.

Lyka Labs soared nearly 15% to Rs 76.25. Piramyd Retail, Classic Diamond, Goldiam International, Hanil Era Textiles, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, Zenith Computers, Jain Irrigation, Archies and Morarje Real Estate gained 9-12% each.

Alfa Laval at Rs 1,000 and Bank of Baroda at Rs 243 declined over 3% each. Alstom Projects, Jet, Nalco, SAIL, Andhra Bank, Aurobindo Pharma, Micro Inks, Balaji Tele, Jindal Saw Pipes, Dena Bank, ICI India, Vijaya Bank, Container Corporation and Escorts were down 2-3% each.

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 335.54 crore followed by Educomp Solutions (Rs 333.96 crore), Infosys (Rs 109.80 crore), Piramyd Retail (Rs 103.28 crore) and SBI (Rs 101.49 crore).

Educomp Soultions led the volume chart with trades in around 1.31 crore shares followed by Centurion Bank of Punjab (1.09 crore), Piramyd Retail (44.31 lakh), GV Films (42.64 lakh) and Prime Securities (39.64 lakh).