Sensex rises steadily, up 28 pts

The market-mood remains positive after a weak opening and a subsequent rise following gains in select old and new economy stocks.

The Sensex has moved up from its earlier gains, and is up 28 points at 6,526. The Nifty is down a point at 2,062.

The market breadth is positive with 1,439 advances and 661 declines.

ITC has scaled up 1.37% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,316. While HLL is still up a rupee at Rs 145, Reliance is still down 1.39% (Rs 7) at Rs 516. Over 33.89 lakh Reliance shares have been traded on the BSE so far.

SBI is up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 613. Other banking stocks are also trading with marginal gains.

Cipla has gained 1.89% (Rs 6) to Rs 310, and Dr. Reddy's is up a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 858.

Bajaj has added 1.10% (Rs 12) to Rs 1,139, and Hero Honda has added 1.38% (Rs 8) to Rs 556. Maruti is up Rs 3 at Rs 471.

BHEL is up a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 733. While HPCL has jumped 2.53% (Rs 10) to Rs 395, Tisco, with a volume of over 13.15 lakh, has gained 3% (Rs 11) to Rs 370. ONGC, however, is down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 852.

Select counters have flared up on strong buying support.

Dena Bank, on a volume of over 20 lakh, has soared 16.50% (Rs 6) to Rs 42, and Mirc Electronics has spurted 11.26% (Rs 3) to Rs 25. While Adani Exports has surged 6.76% (Rs 5) to Rs 81, Ispat, with a volume of over 55 lakh, has notched up 4.94% gains to Rs 21. Aventis Pharma, NFL, JB Chem Pharma, Indo Rama and Balaji Telefilms are up in a range of 4-5%.

Reliance is leading the value chart with a turnover of Rs 114 crore, followed by Tata Tele (Rs 53 crore), Tisco (Rs 48 crore) and Sail (Rs 20 crore), respectively.