Sensex up 47 pts, bank scrips log gains

The Sensex exhibited volatility in morning trades today. After opening 19 points higher at 7,524, the index saw some correction, and slipped below the 7,500-mark to touch an intra-day low of 7,473.

The market bounced back soon following recovery in most counters. After crossing the 7,550-mark in early noon trades, the Sensex rallied sharply in mid-noon trades to a high of 7,565 - up 92 points from the day's low.

The Sensex finally signed off the session with a gain of 47 points (0.63%) at 7,553.

While 20 Sensex stocks advanced, 10 declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 1.29 crore amounting to Rs 648 crore, and declining shares registered a volume of 74 lakh for Rs 137 crore.

The BSE Bankex advanced over 2% to 4,605. The BSE Metal Index was up over a per cent at 6,014. The BSE SmallCap Index was down a per cent at 4,989.

The market breadth was weak - out of 2,592 stocks traded, 1,794 declined, 751 advanced and 47 were unchanged today.

ICICI Bank, continuing its sharp upsurge, flared up 3.75% (Rs 18) to Rs 508. SBI gained a per cent (Rs 6) to Rs 749.

ITC moved up 1.7% (Rs 28) to Rs 1,693. ONGC and Reliance were up a per cent each at Rs 969 (up Rs 8) and Rs 691 (up Rs 4), respectively.

Bajaj was up 1.13% (Rs 16) at Rs 1,410. Hero Honda, Tata Motors and Maruti were up a per cent each at Rs 610 (up Rs 5), Rs 476 (up Rs 4) and Rs 469 (up Rs 5), respectively.

Bharti rose 3% (Rs 8) to Rs 275.

NTPC shed 2.79% (Rs 3) to Rs 94, Reliance Energy declined 1.69% (Rs 11) to Rs 631 and Tata Power dropped a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 398.

TCS dropped 1.44% (Rs 18) to Rs 1,265, and Wipro lost a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 708. Infosys (up Rs 5 to Rs 2,227), however, ended with steady gains.

Dr. Reddy's soared 5% (Rs 37) to Rs 803. Ranbaxy ended marginally higher at Rs 506. Cipla dipped 1.86% (Rs 6) to Rs 336.

Banking stocks attracted strong buying support. Bank of India surged 8% (Rs 10) to Rs 134. Corporation Bank moved up 7% (Rs 32) to Rs 463, Andhra Bank advanced 6% (Rs 7) to Rs 113. Union Bank of India, UTI Bank, IndusInd Bank and BoB logged 3-5% gains.

IFSL topped the volume chart with trades in over 1.88 crore shares followed by Sunitee Chemicals (95 lakh shares) and SPL Industries (89 lakh shares).

SBI was the most active counter with a turnover of over Rs 142 crore followed by VSNL (Rs 121 crore) and Reliance (Rs 117 crore).