Sensex up 32 pts at close

After a rather flat opening at 6,567 (up two points over its last close), the market soon eased into the red as steady-to-strong selling pressure in select stocks saw the index dip to a low of 6,538.

The market staged a smart recovery in late morning trades and the index steadily inched past the 6,600 mark in afternoon trades. Firm buying in tech, pharma and other select heavyweights further boosted the sentiment towards the closing hours and the index surged an intra-day high of 6,612 - up 47 points from its last close.

The Sensex, however, slipped below the 6,600-mark and ended 32 points up at 6,597. The Nifty moved up 15 points to 2,044.

While 21 Sensex stocks advanced, nine declined today. Advancing shares clocked a volume of 81 lakh for Rs 561.89 crore, and declining shares accounted for a volume of 28 lakh amounting to Rs 95.88 crore.

The market breadth was positive. Of 2,044 shares traded on the BSE, 1,036 advanced, 958 declined and 50 stocks ended unchanged.

ONGC scaled up 1.35% (Rs 12) to Rs 883. While ITC advanced 1.26% (Rs 19) to Rs 1,520, Reliance, with a traded volume of over 14.22 lakh, closed up a notch at Rs 530.

SBI, which clocked a volume of over 10.96 lakh, notched up 2.13% gains (Rs 14) to Rs 677. ICICI Bank ended a tad higher at Rs 400, while HDFC Bank slipped a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 541.

Infosys pared gains on profit-taking and ended a per cent higher (Rs 16) at Rs 2,173, with volumes of over 2.51 lakh. While Wipro, too, gained a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 687, Satyam was up a rupee at Rs 453.

Pharma stocks firmed up on strong buying support. Ranbaxy, continuing from its yesterday's strong gains, flared up 3.77% (Rs 38) to Rs 1,040.
While Dr. Reddy's gained nearly 2% (Rs 14) to Rs 705, Cipla added 1.33% (Rs 4) to Rs 282.

Hero Honda jumped 1.77% (Rs 10) to Rs 579. Bajaj (up Rs 9 to Rs 215) and Maruti (up Rs 3 to Rs 461) closed up a per cent each. Tata Motors, however, finished marginally lower at Rs 444.

Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja and ACC were up a per cent each at Rs 1,125 (up Rs 7), Rs 436 (up Rs 3) and Rs 385 (up Rs 4), respectively.

Tata Power clocked a per cent gain (Rs 4) to Rs 373. While Zee dropped 3.15% (Rs 5) to Rs 140, Tisco lost a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 355. Over 14.86 lakh Tisco shares changed hands on the BSE.

FMCG stocks reported strong gains. Wimco soared 14.39% (Rs 5) to Rs 40, while Shaw Wallace advanced 9.94% (Rs 15) to Rs 171. Radico Khaitan jumped nearly 7% to (Rs 22) to Rs 342, and Ruchi Soya wasup 3.12% (Rs 7) at Rs 245.

Tech stocks, too, attracted considerable buying support. Blue Star Infotech spurted 10.46% (Rs 14) to Rs 145, and HCL Tech moved up 3.55% (Rs 12) to Rs 365. Geometric Software, Subex System, Tata Elxsi, TCS, Ramco System, Moser Baer and Flextronics were up in a range of 1-3%.

Select metal stocks, however, dropped sharply. Southern Iron & Steel tumbled 9.82% (Rs 3) to Rs 25. While Monnet Ispat shed 6.53% (Rs 10) to Rs 145, Man Industries lost 3.61% (Rs 6) to Rs 161. Welspun Gujarat, Uttam Galva and Sun Iron & Steel were down nearly 2% each at Rs 57, Rs 50 and Rs 14, respectively.

Infosys led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 142 crore, followed by SBI (Rs 138 crore), Reliance (Rs 87 crore) and Sail (Rs 77 crore), respectively.