Sensex gains 129pts; bank, tech stocks rally

Mirroring weakness in the global markets, the Sensex opened 44 points lower at 10,042. Continued selling in morning deals saw the index plunge to a low of 9875 - down 211 points from its previous close.

Recovery in Asian markets, coupled with aggressive buying in banking and technology shares, saw the index rebound into positive zone by early noon deals. The index flared up to a high of 10,253 - up 378 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 129 points at 10,215.

The BSE Bankex surged nearly 5% to 4389. The Teck index gained 1.5% at 2498.

The broader market, however, did not participate in the upmove today. While the Small-cap index slipped 1.2% to 4758, the Mid-cap index was down 0.5% at 4012.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,424 stocks traded, 1,479 declined, 872 advanced and 73 were unchanged today.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bank stocks witnessed aggressive buying one day ahead of the RBI quarterly policy review tomorrow. ICICI Bank zoomed over 6% to Rs 515. SBI rallied 3.5% to Rs 741, and HDFC Bank advanced 2.8% to Rs 729.

Vijaya Bank zoomed nearly 17% to Rs 39.50. Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Karnataka Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank and UTI Bank were up 3-8% each.

Wipro surged nearly 5% to Rs 468. Satyam added 4% to Rs 714, and TCS gained 3% at Rs 1,820.

ONGC moved up 3% to Rs 1,080. Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and HLL are up 2% each at Rs 365, Rs 2,063 and Rs 228, respectively.

Dr.Reddy's and Maruti rallied 1.7% each to Rs 1,264 and Rs 723, respectively. Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto are up 1.5% each at Rs 684 and Rs 2,495, respectively.

Infosys and Reliance finished with marginal gains of 0.5% each at Rs 1,612 and Rs 972, respectively.

Cipla shed 2% to Rs 216. ITC dropped 1.7% to Rs 164, and NTPC slipped over 1% to Rs 108.

Hindalco and Tata Steel were down over 1% each to Rs 155 and Rs 479, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 242.64 crore followed by Satyam (Rs 154 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 103 crore), SBI (Rs 95 crore) and Sterlite (Rs 89 crore).

G V Films topped the volume chart with trades of around 78.65 lakh shares followed by Reliance Capital Ventures (42.76 lakh), IL & FS Investment (32.12 lakh), Sterlite (25.75 lakh) and Reliance (25.25 lakh).