Sensex up 22 pts; Reliance, SBI log gains

The Sensex opened with a small positive gap of five points at 6,200. Though the index slipped into the red in early deals to touch a low of 6,189, it soon rolled back into the green and exhibited a positive trend through the trading session.

After displaying a positive, range-bound trend till early noon trades, the Sensex firmed up in mid-noon trades on strong buying in old economy stocks and touched a high of 6,247.

Profit-taking in select counters trimmed the gains of the index towards the closing bell, and the Sensex closed the session with a gain of 22 points at 6,217.

Reliance moved up 1.26% (Rs 7) to Rs 541. ONGC and HLL ended marginally lower at Rs 824 and Rs 132, respectively.

SBI jumped 1.53% (Rs 9) to Rs 598, and ICICI Bank gained a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 364. HDFC Bank, however, slipped a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 535.

BHEL rose 2.72% (Rs 22) to Rs 814. While Bharti gained 2.28% (Rs 5) to Rs 211, HDFC added 1.74% (Rs 13) to Rs 748.

ACC moved up 1.79% (Rs 7) to Rs 372. Other cement pivotals, however, ended on a divergent note.

Maruti added 1.90% (Rs 8) to Rs 411, and Tata Motors was up a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 424. Bajaj, after reporting gains for better part of the session, slipped into the red towards the fag-end and ended down a per cent (Rs 10) at Rs 1,093.

Infosys lost a per cent (Rs 13) to Rs 1,902. While Wipro declined 1.30% (Rs 8) to Rs 628, Satyam was down Rs 2 at Rs 407.

Reliance Energy dipped 1.10% (Rs 5) to Rs 483, and HPCL was down a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 315. Tisco also ended weak at Rs 343 - down Rs 2.

The BSE Oil & Gas Index moved up 0.51% (15 points) to 2,999. While the BSE Metal Index was down 0.24% at 5,517, the BSE Tech Index was down a notch (2 points) at 1,571. Other sectoral indices closed with marginal gains.

The broad market was a tad bullish today - out of 2,399 scrips traded, 1,184 advanced, 1,114 declined and 101 were unchanged today.

SBI was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 140 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 98 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 76 crore).