Sensex up 28pts; bank scrips shine

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of four points at 6,410, and touched a low of 6,409 in morning deals. Buying in heayweights like Reliance saw the index move into positive zone. After hitting a high of 6,456, the Sensex closed on a firm note with a gain of 28 points at 6,442.

The Nifty was up 10 points at 2,045.

While 17 Sensex scrips advanced with a volume of 88 lakh shares totalling Rs 411 crore, 13 declined with a volume of 31 lakh shares for Rs 180 crore.

Reliance led the rally today, and the scrip advanced 2.3% (Rs 11) to Rs 506. SBI also gained more than 2% (Rs 15) to Rs 609. HLL was up Rs 2 at Rs 145. Infosys was down nearly a per cent (Rs 17) at Rs 2,066. ITC declined Rs 7 to Rs 1,296.

Hindalco moved up 2.5% (Rs 33) to Rs 1,332. Bajaj gained Rs 12 to Rs 1,131. Tata Motors added Rs 9 to Rs 511. Bharti was up Rs 5 at Rs 209. Reliance Energy was up Rs 4 at Rs 535.

Cement scrips finished with gains. Gujarat Ambuja was up 2% (Rs 7) at Rs 393. While ACC was up a rupee at Rs 317, Grasim was marginally higher at Rs 1,282.

HDFC declined 1.5% (Rs 12) to Rs 757. Hero Honda, which crashed nearly 11% to Rs 490 in morning deals, bounced back to finish with a loss of 1% (Rs 6) at Rs 547. Ranbaxy lost Rs 16 to close at Rs 1,240. Satyam and Wipro also closed on a weak note.

Public and private bank scrips attracted frenzied buying today, and the BSE Bankex gained more than 2% (78 points) to close at 3,588 points.

Syndicate Bank zoomed 19% (Rs 9) to Rs 59. UCO Bank advanced more than 17% (Rs 4) to Rs 29. Bank of India gained 14% (Rs 11) to Rs 93. Dena Bank jumped over 10% to Rs 36. Andhra Bank added over 7% to Rs 86. BoB, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, and Union Bank also closed at higher levels.

Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) was locked at its 20% upper limit at Rs 68.40 - a gain of Rs 11.40 - on reports that SocGen may take stake in the bank. The bank issued a clarification after market close that presentations have been made to several investors, but no deal has been finalised till now. The counter logged a huge volume of over 1.08 crore shares.

UTI Bank moved up over 9% (Rs 16) to Rs 189. IndusInd Bank was up over 6% at Rs 86. Kotak Bank added 4% to Rs 273. South Indian Bank jumped over 7% to Rs 72.

Saregama was locked at its 10% upper circuit at Rs 145.20 - a gain of Rs 13.20 - after the company announced a 4:7 rights at Rs 45 per share.
The counter clocked a volume of 2.59 lakh shares.

Ispat Industries led the volume chart with over 1.32 crore shares traded today. The scrip zoomed over 14% to Rs 19. Essar Shipping also saw over one crore shares being traded today.