Sensex flat; oil PSUs' scrips rally

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of five points at 8,314. The index could not hold the gains, and drifted into negative zone in late morning deals. After moving in a narrow band of 78 points (high of 8,343 and low of  8,265), the Sensex finally closed on a flat note at 8,309.

Most of the sectoral indices moved up today. The BSE PSU Index was up over 1% (56 points) at 4,797. The BSE Metal Index was also up over 1% (66 points) at 5,999. The BSE Teck index was up 0.69% ( 15 points) at 2,185. The BSE Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Capital Goods and Consumer Durables indices also finished with gains.

The BSE Auto Index declined 16 points to 3,608. The BSE FMCG Index dropped 13 points to 1,462. The BSE Bankex was down eight points at 4,520.

Advances were ahead of declines - out of 2,488 scrips traded, 1,360 advanced, 1,066 declined and 62 were unchanged today.

Hindalco advanced over 5% (Rs 7) to Rs 130 after the company announced that a committee of directors will meet on Saturday to finalise the price for the 1:4 rights issue.

BHEL gained 3.6% (Rs 43) to Rs 1,247. Ranbaxy was up Rs 2 at Rs 376 after the company won a patent ruling in Norway. Reliance Energy gained Rs 6 to Rs 540. Tata Motors, Maruti, Tata Power and Tata Steel also finished with gains.

Infosys advanced 1.4% (Rs 36) to Rs 2,655. TCS was up Rs 13 at Rs 1,469. Satyam, however, was down Rs 7 at Rs 630.

ONGC gained over 2% (Rs 20) to Rs 974. SBI added Rs 2 to Rs 849. HLL declined over 2% (Rs 4) to Rs 169. Reliance dropped Rs 6 to Rs 786.

Bajaj dropped over 2% (Rs 42) to Rs 1,801. Dr. Reddy's was down Rs 15 at Rs 915. HDFC slipped Rs 14 to Rs 1,035. Hero Honda, ACC, Grasim, L&T, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank also declined.

United Phosphorus zoomed 8% (Rs 17) to Rs 234. ABB gained 6% (Rs 102) to Rs 1,874.

BPCL was up 5% at Rs 419, and HPCL gained 4% to Rs 319. IOC moved up 4% (Rs 19) to Rs 490. IBP, Kochi Refineries and Gail also closed with gains.

HMT declined 6% to Rs 92. Balaji Tele dropped 6% to Rs 131. P&G was down 4% (Rs 35) at Rs 794. Nicholas slipped Rs 9 to Rs 248.

SBI was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 162 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 114 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 108 crore), Titan (Rs 90 crore) and Suzlon (Rs 89 crore).