Sensex firmly above 6,900

The Sensex opened with a small positive gap of seven points at 6,886, but soon eased on selective selling pressure to touch an early low of 6,873.

The market rebounded into the green and registered strong gains in mid-morning trades before profit-taking and weakness in select counters pushed the index into a range-bound mode.

A bout of fresh buying in old and new economy stocks saw the Sensex surge to a new intra-day high of 6,930 in late noon trades before paring gains to end at a new closing high at 6,915 - up 36 points.

The Nifty gained nine points to close at 2,169.

While 16 Sensex stocks advanced, 14 declined today. Advancing shares registered a volume of 1.15 crore for Rs 597.98 crore, and declining shares accounted for a volume of 38 lakh amounting to Rs 208.47 crore.

The breadth of the market was positive with 1,358 gainers and 1,076 losers, while 68 stocks closed unchanged on the BSE.

ITC advanced 1.51% (Rs 21) to Rs 1,382. While Reliance, with a volume of over 30.27 lakh, clocked a per cent gain (Rs 5) to Rs 590, HLL was up a rupee at Rs 146.

Dr. Reddy's flared up 3% (Rs 22) to Rs 746. While Ranbaxy surged 2.31% (Rs 24) to Rs 1,058, Cipla moved up 2.35% (Rs 6) to Rs 273.

Satyam, with a traded volume of over 37.13 lakh, jumped 2.41% (Rs 10) to Rs 415, while Infosys clocked a per cent gain (Rs 11) to Rs 2,264. Wipro, however, dipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 717.

HDFC Bank gained 2.40% (Rs 14) to Rs 616. SBI and ICICI Bank ended with marginal losses at Rs 724 and Rs 399, respectively.

Hindalco soared 2.85% (Rs 40) to Rs 1,456. While HPCL added 1.63% (Rs 5) to Rs 342, Tisco ended with a steady gain of Rs 2 at Rs 437.

Bajaj, after a mixed outing, ended 1.25% lower (Rs 14) at Rs 1,089. Hero Honda and Maruti ended down a per cent each at Rs 558 (down Rs 4) and Rs 465 (down Rs 4), respectively. Tata Motors, however, finished in the green at Rs 482 - up Rs 3.

Grasim and ACC ended at weaker levels at Rs 1,363 and Rs 368, respectively. Gujarat Ambuja, however, added 1.55% (Rs 7) to Rs 450.

BHEL declined 1.76% (Rs 15) to Rs 839, while HDFC lost 1.15% (Rs 9) to Rs 794.

PSU bank stocks were the star attractions of the day. Andhra Bank soared 11.12% (Rs 12) to Rs 119. While BoI advanced 6.13% (Rs 7) to Rs 114, Vijaya Bank moved up 5.91% (Rs 4) to Rs 74. Allahabad Bank gained 3.88% (Rs 3) to Rs 84, while IDBI was up 3.22% at Rs 104. Corporation Bank, however, dropped 3.32% (Rs 13) to Rs 365, and PNB lost 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 499.

Metal stocks, too, registered strong gains today with the BSE Metal index closing 1.18% higher (up 81 pts) at 6,925. Man Industries zoomed 13.41% (Rs 17) to Rs 141. Nalco spurted 8.52% (Rs 15) to Rs 190. Lloyd Steel, PSL, Madras Aluminium, Sesa Goa, Kalyani Steel and Hind Zinc ended higher in a range of 1-5%.