Sensex up 40pts, SBI gains 3%

Following yesterday's late surge, the Sensex opened with a positive gap of 57 points at 11,589. Fresh buying in the morning trades saw the index touch a high of 11,635.

Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index pare gains and drop to a low of 11,542. However, steady buying in SBI, metal and select index frontliners ensured that the index did not slip into negative zone.

The Sensex finally settled with a gain of 40 points at 11,572.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up nearly 1% each at 4814 and 5833, respectively.

The BSE Metal index gained 1.6% to 8385. The Bankex moved up 0.9% to 5216, and the Auto index was up 0.7% at 4963.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,562 stocks traded, 1,430 advanced, 1,057 declined and the rest were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

SBI zoomed to a high of Rs 914 following the cabinet nod allowing RBI to lower its stake in the bank. The stock finally ended 3.4% higher at Rs 904.

Hindalco surged 2.8% to Rs 173, and Tata Steel added 1.7% to Rs 526.

HLL and Bajaj Auto advanced over 2% each to Rs 237 and Rs 2,751, respectively. Reliance Communications was up 1% at Rs 299.

Reliance Energy slipped over 2% to Rs 446. Tata Motors and NTPC declined 1% each to Rs 850 and Rs 125, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 225.66 crore followed by Mahindra Gesco (Rs 109.55 crore), SBI (Rs 107.41 crore), Sterlite Optical (Rs 94.71 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 90.51 crore).

Essar Oil led the volume chart with trades of around 58.17 lakh Sterlite Optical (54.18 lakh), Nocil (43.41 lakh), Hindustan Motors (43.40 lakh) and G V Films (30.17 lakh).