Sensex up 41pts, Zee zooms 8%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 29 points at 6,183, and touched a high of 6,224 in early morning deals. The index shed gains on profit-taking in select counters, and declined 83 points from the intra-day high to a low of 6,141 in noon deals.

The index moved back again strongly in late noon deals on selective buying, and finally closed at 6,195- a gain of 41 points (0.66%).

Zee zoomed 8% (Rs 10) to Rs 142. HPCL gained 4.7% (Rs 14) to Rs 317. Hindalco was steady in positive zone right through, and closed with a gain of 2% (Rs 24) at Rs 1,210.

Heavyweights finished on a mixed note. HLL declined 3.3% (Rs 5) to Rs 133. ITC dropped over 2% (Rs 30) to Rs 1,407.

ONGC was up 1.7% (Rs 14) at Rs 825. Reliance moved up over 1% (Rs 6) to Rs 534. SBI was also up 1% (Rs 4) at Rs 589.

Infosys moved up 1.5% (Rs 27) to Rs 1,915. While Satyam added 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 409, Wipro was up 1% (Rs 5) at Rs 636.

Cement scrips firmed up on late buying support. ACC gained 3% (Rs 11) to Rs 371. Gujarat Ambuja was up 2% (Rs 9) at Rs 430. Grasim was weak today, and closed with a loss of 2% (Rs 22) at Rs 1,140.

Bajaj was firm right through the day, and closed with a gain of 1.4% (Rs 15) at Rs 1,103. Hero Honda was up 2% (Rs 11) at Rs 515. Tata Motors also moved up 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 421. Maruti declined Rs 3 to Rs 403.

The BSE FMCG Index declined over 2% (23 points) to 1,089. The BSE Oil & Gas Index gained 1.8% (52 points) to 2,984. The tech, PSU, auto and bank index also closed at higher levels today.

The broad market continued to be bearish - out of 2,377 scrips traded, 1,,449 declined, 859 advanced and 69 were unchanged today.

Oil PSU scrips finished with gains today. BPCL moved up over 5% (Rs 18) to Rs 364. Kochi Refineries was up 3% at Rs 159. IOC was up 2% at Rs 449.

Oriental Bank was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 104 crore followed by SBI (Rs 87 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 79 crore).