Sensex gains 103pts; Reliance zooms 5%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 33 points at 12,393. Fresh buying in opening deals saw the index zoom to a new all-time intra-day high of 12,511.

The index, thereafter, pared gains and displayed range-bound movement through the day. The Sensex finally settled with a gain of 103 points at 12,462.

All sectoral indices ended more or less on a flat note. The BSE Oil & Gas index was the only notable gainer - up 3% at 6,236. The BSE Consumer Durable index was down nearly 1% at 3,640.

The market breadth was extremely positive - out of 2,624 stocks traded, 1,687 advanced, 884 declined and 53 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & LOSERS

Reliance zoomed to a new all-time high of Rs 1,170 before setlling with a gain of 5% at Rs 1,156. ONGC added 1% to Rs 1,378.

HDFC advanced 4.3% to Rs 1,341. Hero Honda rallied 2% to Rs 875. Reliance Energy gained 1% to Rs 623.

ACC surged 2.3% to Rs 1,010. Gujarat Ambuja moved up 1.8% to Rs 120, and Grasim spurted 1% to Rs 2,442.

Satyam gained 1% at Rs 783. TCS was up nearly 1% at Rs 2,019.

NTPC dropped 1.4% to Rs 131. HDFC Bank and HLL declined 1% each to Rs 869 and Rs 282, respectively.

OTHER GAINERS & LOSERS

PTC India zoomed almost 20% to Rs 73.30. GTN Industries, Bombay Burmah, Goetze India, Surana Telecom, Ramsarup Industries, Crew BOS, Paradyne, BSEL Infrastructure and Maral Overseas hit their respective 20% upper limits.

Neyveli Lignite soared nearly 15% to Rs 95.50. Patspi India, Chowgule Steamship, Balmer Lawrie, Lokesh Machines, Gruh Finance, Prathibha, Gujarat Narmada, Adani Exports, Gujarat Ind Power, Escorts, Mirc Electronics, Torrent Pharma, Nirma, Century Enka and Hinduja TMT were the other major gainers.

J L Morison and GMR Industries hit the 10% lower circuit each at Rs 346 and Rs 298, respectively. Finolex Industries, Shyam Telecom, Plethico Pharma, Supreme Petro, Dalmia Cement, RCF, Vijaya Bank, Aditya Birla Nuvo, National Fetilisers, Sun Pharma, FACT, Container Corporation and Sterlite Optical were the other prominent losers.

VALUE & VOLUMES TOPPERS

Reliance led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 325.80 crore followed by ONGC (Rs 230.41 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 124.14 crore), Lokesh Machines (Rs 105.35 crore) and VSNL (Rs 92.08 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources topped the volume chart with trades of around 77.48 lakh shares followed by Reliance Energy Ventures (71.51 lakh), IFCI (65.39 lakh), Himachal Futuristic (55.79 lakh) and G V Films (47.54 lakh).