Sensex up 17pts, Infosys gains 2.8%

The Sensex opened above the 9,000-mark at 9,011 - a gain of 66 points over yesterday's close of 8,945. Sustained buying saw the index zoom to a high of 9,058 in morning deals.

After moving in positive zone right through the session, the index dropped to a low of 8,944 - an intra-day swing of 114 points - towards the closing bell. The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 17 points at 8,962.

The sectoral indices finished on a mixed note. The BSE Teck Index gained 0.83% (19 points) to 2,325. The BSE FMCG Index advanced 0.6% (10 points) to 1,572. The BSE Bankex was up 0.4% (21 points) at 4,862. The BSE Metal Index was also up 0.4% (29 points) at 6,027.

The BSE Auto Index dropped 0.6% (25 points) to 4,021. The BSE PSU Index was down 0.6% (30 points) at 5,102. The BSE Oil & Gas Index dropped 0.5% (23 points) to 4,155.

Declines moved ahead of advances - out of 2,553 scrips traded, 1,382 declined, 1,097 moved up and 74 were unchanged today.

Infosys was firm right through the session, and closed with a gain of 2.8% (Rs 76) at 2,843. Other tech scrips, however, declined today. Satyam dropped 1.4% (Rs 9) to Rs 659. TCS and Wipro declined marginally to Rs 1,548 and Rs 431, respectively.

Grasim added 1.6%(Rs 22) to Rs 1,427. ACC was up Rs 4 at Rs 538, and  Gujarat  Ambuja finished marginally higher at Rs 84.

Cipla moved up 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 422. While Ranbaxy slipped 1.5% (Rs 6) to Rs 391, Dr. Reddy's was down 1% (Rs 10) at Rs 918.

Tata Steel gained Rs 6 to Rs 357. ICICI Bank was up Rs 3 at Rs 544.

ONGC declined Rs 8 to Rs 1,035. SBI dropped Rs 2 to Rs 911. While Reliance was down a rupee at Rs 839, HLL also slipped a rupee to Rs 184.

Bajaj dipped 1.8% (Rs 36) to Rs 1,983. Tata Motors slipped Rs 6 to Rs 567. Maruti was down Rs 4 at Rs 617.

BHEL dropped Rs 21 to Rs 1,434. L&T was down Rs 12 at Rs 1,755. Reliance Energy and Hindalco also declined.

Finolex Industries zoomed over 7% (Rs 6) to Rs 86. Indo Gulf gained 6% to Rs 227. Chambal Fertiliers moved up 5% to Rs 40. Aditya Birla Nuvo was up 5% at Rs 706.

Capital goods stocks finished with gains today. Areva zoomed 8% (Rs 27) to Rs 379. Greaves Cotton advanced 7% (Rs 20) to Rs 303. Crompton Greaves gained over 4% (Rs 30) to Rs 761. Siemens moved up over 3% (Rs 112) to Rs 3,476. ABB, Alstom Projects, BEML and Ingersoll Rand also finished with gains.

Reliance Capital was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 210 crore followed by Infosys (Rs 197 crore), Reliance (Rs 137 crore), SBI (Rs 133 crore) and VSNL (Rs 100 crore).