Sensex up 30pts; PSU banks' scrips rally

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 15 points at 6,864, and dipped to a low of 6,855 in early deals. Sustained buying in heavyweights, especially Reliance, and SBI, saw the index zoom past the 6,900-mark, and touch an intra-day high of 6,902. Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index shed ground, and finally close with a gain of 30 points at 6,879.

While 15 index scrips advanced with a volume of 95 lakh shares totalling Rs 584 crore, 15 declined with a volume of 52 lakh shares for Rs 179 crore.

Reliance advanced over 2% (Rs 14) to Rs 586. SBI was up nearly 2% (Rs 13) at Rs 726. Infosys was up a per cent (Rs 20) at Rs 2,253. ONGC gained over a per cent (Rs 12) to Rs 902.

HLL dropped over 3% (Rs 5) to Rs 145. ITC was down nearly a per cent (Rs 10) at Rs 1,361.

Cement scrips finished on a weak note. ACC declined 1.4% (Rs 5) to Rs 369. Gujarat Ambuja and Grasim also declined.

Reliance Energy zoomed 4% (Rs 23) to Rs 588. HDFC Bank was up 2.6% (Rs 15) at Rs 601. HDFC moved up nearly 2% (Rs 16) to Rs 803. Tisco, Bajaj Auto, Satyam, Wipro and Hindalco also finished with gains.

Maruti declined nearly 3% (Rs 13) to Rs 470. Bharti dropped 2.5% (Rs 6) to Rs 230. BHEL was down 1.5% (Rs 13) at Rs 851.

PSU banks' scrips were on a roll today. Oriental Bank zoomed 11% (Rs 35) to Rs 363. PNB advanced 7% (Rs 33) to Rs 509. The second public offer of the bank, which opened today, has  got enthusiastic reponse from investors. BoI, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, BoB, Vijaya Bank and IOB also closed with sharp gains.

Ingersoll Rand was locked at its 20% upper limit at Rs 291 - a gain of Rs 48.

The overall market was marginally bullish today. While 1,326 shares out of the total 2,513 shares traded on the BSE advanced, 1,125 declined and 62 were unchanged today.

JCT topped the volume chart with a volume of over 2.75 crore shares followed by IFCI, HFCL and Hindustan Motors.

Punjab National Bank topped the value chart with a traded value of Rs 193 crore followed by Reliance at Rs 143 crore and SBI at Rs 132 crore.