Sensex gains 55 pts, Satyam flares up

The Sensex opened five points higher over its last close at 6,249, but plunged deep into the red immediately on across-the-board selling pressure to touch a low of 6,174.

The markets thereafter was on a consolidation mode. After witnessing weak trends till early noon trades, the index drifted into the green in mid-noon trades on stock-specific gains. Buying, however, intensified in late trades as hectic activity in most of the counters lifted the index above the 6,300-mark to an intra-day high of 6,306.

The Sensex, after exhibiting volatility during the intra-day trades, finally wrapped up the session with a gain of 55 points at 6,299. The Nifty, too, after a mixed outing, gained 19 points to 1,949.

Reliance advanced 2.30% (Rs 12) to Rs 542. ITC moved up 2.12% (Rs 29) to Rs 1,400. While ONGC slipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 851, HLL closed down a tad at Rs 131.

Satyam on impressive quarterly numbers shot up 5% (Rs 19) to Rs 396. While Wipro scaled up 1.88% (Rs 11) to Rs 606, Infosys finished in the red at Rs 1,944 - down Rs 3.

BHEL jumped 3.30% (Rs 26) to Rs 800, and L&T soared 2.48% (Rs 24) to Rs 973. Hindalco at Rs 1,269 (up Rs 14 or 1.10%) and Reliance Energy at Rs 504 (up Rs 5), Tata Powre at Rs 363 (up Rs 9 or 2.54%) and Tisco at Rs 369 (up Rs 5 or 1.49%) also registered strong gains. Zee, however, dropped 2.23% (Rs 3) to Rs 131.

SBI added 1.18% (Rs 7) to Rs 628. While HDFC Bank recovered towards the fag-end and ended up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 550, ICICI Bank ended flat at Rs 384.

Tata Motors and Maruti were up a per cent each at Rs 438 and Rs 433, respectively. Bajaj and Hero Honda, however, ended with marginal losses at Rs 1,080 and Rs 513, respectively.

Gujarat Ambuja added 1.60% (Rs 7) to Rs 431, and Grasim gained Rs 4 to Rs 1,207. ACC, however, was down a rupee at Rs 372.