Sensex up 27pts, TCS gains 3%

Mirroring the strong global trend and robust FII inflows, the Sensex opened with a positive gap of 41 points at 13,440. Smart buying in technology shares saw the index rally to a new all-time, intra-day high of 13,487.

Profit-taking in late morning deals saw the index slip to a low of 13,381 - down 106 points from the day's high. The index, thereafter, exhibited a range-bound movement with a positive bias. The Sensex finally settled with a marginal gain of 27 points at 13,426.

The BSE IT index surged nearly 2% to 4986, and the Bankex was up 1% at 6864. While the FMCG and Metal indices dropped 1.3% each to 2048 and 8978, respectively, the Auto index slipped nearly 1% to 5321.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,617 stocks traded, 1,616 declined, 937 advanced and 64 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

TCS rallied 3% (Rs 32) to Rs 1,106. Infosys surged 2.3% to Rs 2,210, and Satyam added 1.4% to Rs 432.

ICICI Bank gained 2% at Rs 857. Ranbaxy and ONGC were up 1% each at Rs 402 and Rs 880, respectively.

HLL, NTPC and Hindalco slipped nearly 2% each to Rs 248, Rs 135 and Rs 179, respectively.

Tata Steel, Grasim, ACC and Gujarat Ambuja declined over 1% each to Rs 491, Rs 2,674, Rs 1,007 and Rs 135, respectively.

Maruti, Hero Honda, BHEL, Reliance Communications, Cipla and SBI were the other major losers today.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

TCS topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 943.50 crore followed by Indiabulls (Rs 209.30 crore), Glenmark (Rs 115.35 crore), Hindustan Zinc (Rs 113.80 crore) and Infosys (Rs 113.50 crore).

Silverline led the volume chart with trades of around 1.02 crore shares followed by TCS (89 lakh), DCB (70 lakh), Nandan Exim (67 lakh) and GTL Infrastructure (52 lakh).