Sensex ends up 282pts; Reliance gains 4%

The Sensex opened with a significant positive gap of 134 points at 16,698 - up 134 points from the previous close. After extending gains in early trades the index pared some gains and touched a low of 16,600.

The index, thereafter, exhibited steady upmove on the back of unabated buying in heavyweights like Reliance, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and NTPC. The index touched a fresh all-time intra-day high of 16,848.

The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 282 points at 16,846.

The BSE Oil & Gas index zoomed 3.3% to 9651. The Bankex surged 2.5% to 8961. The Auto and Realty indices were up 2% each at 5297 and 9370, respectively.

The market breadth was negative - out of 2,837 stocks traded, 1,467 declined, 1,313 advanced and 57 were unchanged.

INDEX MOVERS...

Reliance Energy zoomed 8.3% to Rs 1,094. Maruti soared 5.5% to Rs 980, and NTPC surged nearly 5% to Rs 197.

Larsen & Toubro rallied 4% to Rs 2,897. Reliance gained 3.6% at Rs 2,357.

Reliance Communications, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel advanced around 3% each to Rs 598, Rs 996, Rs 2,574 and Rs 945, respectively.

Ranbaxy moved up 2.8% to Rs 417. Mahindra & Mahindra added 2.5% to Rs 790.

BHEL, Hindustan Unilever, Hindalco and HDFC Bank were up around 2% each at Rs 2,010, Rs 224, Rs 163 and Rs 1,346, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Infosys plunged over 3% to Rs 1,763, and Satyam dropped over 2% to Rs 409.

ITC shed 1.5% to Rs 188. TCS was down nearly 1% at Rs 1,006.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

IFCI topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 531.70 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 457.80 crore), Reliance Petro (Rs 369.40 crore), DLF (Rs 242.60 crore) and Reliance Energy (Rs 235 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 5.70 crore shares followed by Tata Tele (5.34 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (4.93 crore), Ispat Inds (4.82 crore) and Himachal Futuristic (3.55 crore).