Sensex up 15 pts at close, HLL soars 4%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 14 points at 6,729. Healthy buying in most of the old economy stocks propelled the gains of the index to an intra-day high of 6,763 in mid-morning trades.

The market thereafter displayed a fluctuating trend as most of the counters either remained steady or pared gains on profit-taking. While the market was on a recovery path in the afternoon trades, the sentiment turned bearish by mid-noon trades and the index slipped below the yesterday's close to touch a low of 6,710.

Though a range-bound (positive trend) prevailed thereafter, the Sensex finally, on selective buying support, ended 15 points higher at 6,730. The Nifty ended flat at 2,088.

While 17 Sensex stocks advanced 13 declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 61 lakh amounting to Rs 262.08 crore, and declining shares registered a volume of 36 lakh for Rs 218.23 crore.

The market breadth was fairly positive. Of 2,528 scrips traded on the BSE - 1,530 advanced, 926 declined and 72 remained unchanged.

HLL, continuing with its recent upsurge, soared 4.33% (Rs 6) to Rs 149. The counter clocked a volume of over 16 lakh. Reliance and ONGC ended with a per cent gain each at Rs 540 (up Rs 5) and Rs 930 (up Rs 8), respectively. ITC, however, was down a per cent (Rs 8) at Rs 1,591.

ICICI Bank added 1.67% (Rs 7) to Rs 399. While SBI dropped 1.61% (Rs 11) to Rs 660, HDFC Bank lost a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 536.

Bajaj notched up 2.35% gains (Rs 29) to Rs 1,256, and Hero Honda gained 1.22% (Rs 7) to Rs 560. While Tata Motors logged 1.28% gains (Rs 6) to Rs 438, Maruti, however, dipped 1.20% (Rs 6) to Rs 461.

Ranbaxy added 1.22% (Rs 13) to Rs 1,114. Dr. Reddy's and Cipla ended with steady gains at Rs 729 and Rs 292, respectively.

Reliance Energy moved up 2% (Rs 11) to Rs 527, and HDFC was up a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 768. Hindalco dropped 1.52% (Rs 17) to Rs 1,113. While Tata Power tumbled 2.43% (Rs 9) to Rs 377, Tisco declined 1.82% (Rs 7) to Rs 356.

Infosys lost 1.30% (Rs 29) to Rs 2,221, while Wipro slipped a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 711. Satyam at Rs 455 (up Rs 2), however, ended with steady gains.

Grasim shed 1.23% (Rs 14) to Rs 1,115, while Gujarat Ambuja slipped a per cent (Rs 2) to Rs 451.

Pharma pivotals registered strong gains. Strides Acrolab, on acquisitons news, flared up 13.22% (Rs 33) to Rs 284. While Suven Life moved up 8.71% (Rs 7) to Rs 92, Glenmark Pharma gained 6.55% (Rs 16) to Rs 264. Unichem Lab, Orchid Chemicals, Shasun Chemicals, Wyeth, Kopran and Aurobindo Pharma logged  3-6%gains.

Select Capital Goods stocks, too, firmed up. Esab India gained 5.88% (Rs 13) to Rs 238, and BEML rose 5.44% (Rs 36) to Rs 705. While Gammon India jumped 4.56% (Rs 13) to Rs 295, Nelco added 3% (up a rupee) to Rs 41. Amforge Industries has gained 2.70% (Rs 4) to Rs 171.

Metal stocks, however, faltered under selling pressure. Lloyd Steel dropped 4.83% to Rs 18, and Hind Zinc lost 4.11% (Rs 6) to Rs 144. While Sail declined 3.75% to Rs 53, Uttam Galva slipped 3.59% to Rs 47.