Sensex gains 22pts; metal stocks rally

The market displayed high volatility today. After opening with a positive gap of 17 points at 9635, the Sensex slipped into negative zone for a brief while only to snap back sharply to a new all-time intra-day high of 9681.

Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index pare gains and slip back into negative zone. A heavy round of selling in the noon session saw the index tumble to a low of 9536 - down 145 points from the peak.

However, fresh buying at lower levels saw the index move back into positive zone and finish the day with a gain of 22 points at 9640.

The index thus ended the first week of the new year with a significant gain of 2.6% (242 points).

The BSE Metal Index surged 1.6% to 6770. The BSE Auto, Bankex and Teck indices closed with marginal gains at 4341, 5331 and 2487, respectively.

The market breadth was neutral - out of 2,581 stocks traded, 1,282 advanced, 1,235 declined and the rest were unchanged today.

HDFC Bank was the major gainer among the Sensex stocks, and the stock advanced nearly 4% to Rs 768. While ICICI Bank declined 1% to Rs 599, SBI closed unchanged at Rs 940.

After moving in a range of Rs 932-914, Reliance finally ended marginally lower at Rs 920.

Hindalco moved up 3.2% to Rs 154. Tisco gained 1% to Rs 384.

ONGC surged 1.6% to Rs 1,200. HDFC rallied 1.7% to Rs 1,261.

While Satyam advanced 1% to Rs 760, TCS declined 1% at Rs 1,705. Infosys and Wipro closed flat at Rs 3,055 and Rs 473, respectively.

Metals stocks rallied sharply today. Sterlite soared 5.2% to Rs 1,244. Welspun Gujarat gained 4.9% at Rs 90. SAIL moved up 2.6% to Rs 55. Maharashtra Seamless was up 1.9% at Rs 552.

Indian Overseas Bank at Rs 113 and BEML at Rs 1,288 surged over 7% each. IPCL, Britannia, Alstom Projects, Escorts, CMC, HCL Technologies, Indian Hotels and India Cement gained 4-6% each.

HCL Infosys slumped 4.3% to Rs 253. FACT, JB Chemicals, Titan, National Fertilisers, Container Corporation, Bank of India, Indo Rama, EIH, Jaiprakash Associates, Neyveli Lignite, Kotak Bank, IPCA Labs and Canara Bank declined 2-4% each.

Debutant Punj Lloyd topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 486.29 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 194.41 crore), SBI (Rs 112.88 crore), Titan (Rs 112.75 crore) and IPCL (Rs 87.86 crore).

Newly listed Radha Madhav topped the volume chart with a volume of around 134.17 lakh shares followed by Punj Lloyd (46.55 lakh shares), Tulip IT (45.34 lakh shares), Hind Motors (42.56 lakh shares) and IFCI (41.26 lakh shares).