Sensex steady, bank stocks rise

The market has steadied in the afternoon trades as most of the counters are trading at their earlier gains. The Sensex is now up 35 points at 6,548. The Nifty has inched up seven points to 2,070.

The market breadth is positive with 1,284 advances and 506 declines.

Reliance (up Rs 6 or 1.21% to Rs 523) is holding on to its gains. Over 15.83 lakh shares have been traded on the BSE so far.

While ITC is up a tad at Rs 1,309, HLL is down a rupee at Rs 144 after reporting gains in the first half.

SBI, on fresh buying support, has moved up 1.34% (Rs 8) to Rs 621. The counter has clocked a volume of over 6.64 lakh.

HDFC Bank has added 1.42% (Rs 7) to Rs 511, ICICI Bank is marginally up at Rs 374.

Infosys (up Rs 7 to Rs 2,064) is trading with steady gains. While Satyam is up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 413, Wipro is up Rs 2 at Rs 753.

Bharti, with a volume of over 3.45 lakh, has jumped 2.47% (Rs 5) to Rs 213. While HPCL has gained 2.70% (Rs 10) to Rs 398, Hindalco is up 1.15% (Rs 15) to Rs 1,337. Tisco, with a volume of over 21 lakh, is up 2.81% (Rs 10) at Rs 384.

ONGC, however, is still exhibiting weakness, and is dealt at Rs 830 - up Rs 18 or 2.10%.

BHEL is up 1.49% (Rs 11) at Rs 748.

Dr. Reddy's and Cipla continue to trade with modest gains at Rs 860 and Rs 311, respectively.

Essar Steel has hit the 8.79% upper limit of the circuit breaker to Rs 43. The counter is currently trading with a volume of over 42.5 lakh on the BSE.

Ispat is trading firm with a gain of 9.81% (Rs 2) at Rs 23, and HMT has notched up 9.44% gains (Rs 4) to Rs 47. While Nicholas Piramal has surged 9.38% to Rs 319, Sterlite Opticla has gained 7.92% to Rs 79.

Escorts, SKF, CESC, Maharashtra Steel, IDBI and Jindal Steel have advanced in a range of 4-5%.

Reliance is leading the value chart with a turnover of Rs 83 crore, followed by Tisco (Rs 82 crore), SBI (Rs 41 crore), Satyam (Rs 23 crore) and Infosys (Rs 19 crore), respectively.