Sensex up 44pts, Tata Steel gains 4%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 46 points at 10,855. Fresh buying in early trades saw the index rally to a high of 10,992. Selling pressure at higher levels saw the index slip into negative zone to a low of 10,782 - down 210 points from the intra-day high. The index, however, rebounded into positive zone and finally ended with a gain of 44 points at 10,853.

The BSE Metal index soared 3.2% to 9,203. While the Capital Goods index moved up 1.5% to 7,652, the FMCG index slipped 1.4% to 2000. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gained nearly 1% each at 5,212 and 6,617, respectively.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,511 stocks traded, 1,381 advanced, 1,070 declined and 60 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Tata Steel and Hero Honda surged 4.3% each to Rs 561 and Rs 862, respectively. Satyam rallied nearly 4% to Rs 706.

Larsen & Toubro moved up 3.5% to Rs 2,444. HDFC added 3% to Rs 1,205, and Hindalco spurted 2% to Rs 189.

Tata Power, ONGC, Infosys, Tata Motors, SBI, Cipla and ICICI Bank were up 1-2% each.

Grasim shed 3.5% to Rs 1,886. ITC dropped 2.5% to Rs 179.

Dr. Reddy's and NTPC slipped 2.2% each to Rs 1,384 and Rs 115, respectively.

Bharti Tele declined nearly 2% to Rs 380. Bajaj Auto and HDFC Bank were down over 1.5% each at Rs 2,867 and Rs 761, respectively.

OTHER GAINER & LOSERS

Nitco Tiles zoomed 15% to Rs 203. Uniply, Adhunik Metals, Sakuma Exports, Maharashtra Scooters, Kothari Products, Trent, Gati, Kotak Bank, Sterlite, CESC, JSW Steel, Ramco System, GTL, Jaiprakash, EIH, Reliance Capital and G E Shipping were the other major gainers today.

Indo-Rama Textiles plunged over 7% to Rs 66. J J Exporter, Asian Hotels, Ansal Infrastructure, Morarjee Realestate, Navbharat Ferro, Binani Industries, Godrej Industries, Zodiac Cloth, SKF India, Micro Inks, Gail, Ispat, Reliance Communications Ventures and Syndicate Bank were the other significant losers today.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

It was a low turnover day on Dalal Street today. Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 133.70 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 132.42 crore), Satyam (Rs 72.33 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 63.80 crore) and ACC (Rs 56.74 crore).

SAIL led the value chart with trades of around 44.27 lakh shares followed by Prakash Industries (27.20 lakh), IFCI (25.27 lakh), G V Films (25 lakh) and Tata Steel (24 lakh).