Sensex gains 109pts; ITC up 6%

The Sensex opened marginally higher at 10,058. The index slipped in red to touch a low of 9902 as nervousness gripped market ahead of the Reliance AGM.

Buying resumed in mid-noon deals, and the index rebounded in the positive zone. The index rallied to a high of 10,224 - up 322 points from the day's low.

The index witnessed one more wild swing before settling with a gain of 109 points at 10,151.

While the Small-cap index plunged 2% to 5245, the Mid-cap index dropped 1% to 4235.

The FMCG index rallied nearly 4% to 1881. The Metal index added 2.7% to 8098.

The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,398 stocks traded, 1,625 declined, 718 advanced and 55 were unchanged today.

INDEX GAINERS & LOSERS

ITC soared over 6% to Rs 176. Tata Steel surged 4.6% to Rs 519, and HDFC advanced over 4% to Rs 1,090.

HLL, Hero Honda and Wipro moved up 2.5% each to Rs 220, Rs 752 and Rs 475, respectively.

Dr.Reddy's, Satyam, Infosys and Tata Motors gained over 2% each to Rs 1,301, Rs 688, Rs 2,956 and Rs 745, respectively.

Reliance ended with a marginal gain (Rs 4) at Rs 986.

Reliance Communications plunged over 5% to Rs 229. Ranbaxy and HDFC Bank dropped nearly 3% each to Rs 361 and Rs 740, respectively.

BHEL, Maruti and Reliance Energy shed nearly 2% each to Rs 1,799, Rs 722 and Rs 438, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 569.34 crore followed Tata Steel (Rs 290 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 142.78 crore), Mahindra Gesco (Rs 117.25 crore) and VSNL (Rs 113.75 crore).

SAIL led the volume chart with trades of around 72.75 lakh shares followed by Tata Steel (57.60 lakh), Reliance (57.30 lakh), ITC (34.30 lakh) and Reliance Communications (32.85 lakh).