Sensex still firm, up 124 pts

The Sensex is holding on to its gains, although select counters have pared gains due to profit-taking. It is now up 124 points at 6,543. The Nifty is up 42 points at 2,050.

The market breadth is positive with 1,069 gainers and 727 losers on the BSE.

Reliance, with volumes of over 15.13 lakh, is up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 526, off its early highs. HLL, on fresh buying support, has shot up 3% (Rs 5) to Rs 158. ITC, however, has shed more ground on selling pressure to Rs 1,361 - down Rs 39 or 2.80%.

Infosys, on renewed buying support, has flared up 2.25% (Rs 46) to Rs 2,085. While Satyam, with a traded volume of over 13.81 lakh, has notched up 3.91% gains (Rs 16) to Rs 413, Wipro is up a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 706.

SBI, on volumes of over 9.98 lakh, has added 3.21% (Rs 20) to Rs 643. While ICICI Bank has jumped 3.46% (Rs 12) to Rs 360, HDFC Bank has gained 2.33% (Rs 13) to Rs 552.

ONGC has scaled up 2.85% (Rs 23) to Rs 820, and Zee has jumped 4.30% (Rs 6) to Rs 155.

Bharti, on volumes of over 16.27 lakh, is trading off-highs (up Rs 11) at Rs 231. BHEL has gained 4.49% (Rs 32) to Rs 754, and HDFC has added 3.32% (Rs 25) to Rs 778. While L&T has spurted 4.11% (Rs 40) to Rs 1,003, Reliance Energy has gained 4.76% (Rs 25) to Rs 543.

Metal and pharma stocks are trading with impressive gains. Essar Steel has shot up 6.79% (Rs 3) to Rs 40, and Monnet Ispat has surged 6% (Rs 11) to Rs 201. Sesa Goa and Bhushan Steel are up 4% each at Rs 1,309 and Rs 165, respectively. Mukand, Sail, Sterlite Industries, Gujarat NRE Coke and Jindal Steel are up in a range of 2-3%.

Cadila Healthcare has soared 13.27% (Rs 68) to Rs 580. While AstraZen Pharma has added 3.76% (Rs 58) to Rs 1,590, Lupin is up 3.72% (Rs 22) at Rs 603. Glenmark Pharma, Sun Pharma, Suven Life, Aarti Drugs and JB Chem Pharma have gained between 2-3%.

MTNL, however, has droped 5% (Rs 7) to Rs 142, and TVS Motor has lost 4.88% (Rs 4) to Rs 75. While Hind Zinc has shed 4.26% (Rs 7) to Rs 154, Ingersol RND is down 3.72% (Rs 9) at Rs 243. Essel Propac at Rs 288 (down Rs 7 or 2.46%), D-Link at Rs 126 (down Rs 3 or 2.22%) and Tata Chem at Rs 157 (down Rs 3 or 1.91%) are also trading at lower levels.

Reliance is leading the value chart with a turnover of Rs 84 crore, followed by ONGC (Rs 72 crore), SBI (Rs 64 crore) and Infosys (Rs 62 crore), respectively.