Sensex revisits 12K, slips to end at 11973

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 41 points at 11,937. After scaling to higher levels, the index slipped to a low of 11,892 in late morning deals.

Buying re-emerged soon, and the index bounced back to higher levels. Agressive buying in cement, pharma and technology stocks saw the index zoom past the 12,000-mark to touch a high of 12,004 - up 112 points.

Some profit-taking at higher levels saw the index pare gains and settle at 11,973 - up 79 points.

The index revisited the 12,000-mark today after a gap of almost four months. The index was above 12,000 last time on May 18.

The BSE Bankex advanced 1.5% to 5636, and the Metal index added 1% to 8314.

The market breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,569 stocks traded, 1,366 declined, 1,139 advanced and 64 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

ICICI Bank rallied over 3% to Rs 651. Grasim surged 2.8% to Rs 2,392.

Gujarat Ambuja and Bajaj Auto advanced nearly 2% each to Rs 115 and Rs 2,825, respectively.

TCS, HLL, Dr.Reddy's and ACC gained 1.5% each to Rs 1,012, Rs 239, Rs 748 and Rs 944, respectively.

Tata Steel, Infosys, Satyam and Reliance were up around 1% each at Rs 508, Rs 1,829, Rs 810 and Rs 1,126, respectively.

Hero Honda slipped 1.6% to Rs 766. HDFC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Energy, Bharti Airtel and NTPC declined 1% each to Rs 1,337, Rs 864, Rs 466, Rs 439 and Rs 128, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 142.75 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 137.54 crore), Indiabulls (Rs 136.61 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 77.82 crore) and Mahindra Gesco (Rs 69.45 crore).

HMT led the volume chart with trades of around 69.37 lakh shares followed by ITI (53.13 lakh), SpiceJet (48.48 lakh), Nocil (47.75 lakh) and Indiabulls (36.91 lakh).