Sensex sniffs 18K, ends flat; Power Grid up 94%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 55 points at 17,832. Volatility in the first half of trading day saw the index slip to a low of 17,731. Renewed buying, thereafter, saw the index rally to a fresh all-time intra-day high of 17,979 (just 21 points shy of the 18,000-mark) - up 248 points from the day's low.

The index, however, could not hold gains and came tumbling down towards the close. The index dropped to a low of 17,709 - down 270 points from the day's peak. The Sensex finally ended almost flat at 17,773 - down four points.

The BSE Capital Goods index surged over 3% to 15,743. The Bankex, FMCG and PSU indices dropped 2% each to 9225, 2107 and 8341, respectively. The Metal and Realty indices were the other major losers at 14,122 and 9631, respectively.

The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,821 stocks traded, 1,828 declined, 935 advanced and 58 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS...

Larsen & Toubro zoomed 6.7% to Rs 3,089. Bharti Airtel soared 3.3% to Rs 993.

BHEL surged 3% to Rs 2,153. Reliance gained 2.5% at Rs 2,484.

Reliance Communications moved up 1.6% to Rs 645, and Bajaj Auto added 1.3% to Rs 2,612.

...AND THE SHAKERS

NTPC plunged over 5% to Rs 214. Hindalco and Tata Steel slumped 3.7% each to Rs 169 and Rs 833, respectively.

ITC, ACC and Tata Motors slipped around 3% each to Rs 179, Rs 1,177 and Rs 776, respectively.

ICICI Bank shed 2.3% to Rs 1,037. Reliance Energy, Ranbaxy, ONGC and SBI dropped 2% each to Rs 1,447, Rs 433, Rs 966 and Rs 1,863, respectively.

HDFC declined 1.6% to Rs 2,455. Satyam and Grasim were down 1.3% each to Rs 444 and Rs 3,544, respectively.

DAZZLING DEBUT

Power Grid listed at a 63% premium at Rs 85. The stock touched a high of Rs 109, and finally ended at Rs 101 - a premium of 94% on Day 1 on the BSE.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Debutant Power Grid topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 1,030.50 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 308.80 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 248 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 213.50 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 208.70 crore).

Power Grid led the volume chart with trades of around 9.97 crore Ispat Industries (5.30 crore), Himachal Futuristic (1.61 crore), IFCI (1.49 crore) and Nagarjuna Fertilisers (1.49 crore).