Sensex up 49pts; Titan zooms 20%

The Sensex opened 12 points higher at 6,557, and remained in positive territory through the trading session. While the market remained steady in the first half on selective buying support, the Sensex gained momentum in mid-noon trades to touch an intra-day high of 6,614 on hectic buying support, particularly, in old economy stocks.

The Sensex, however, came off its highs on profit-taking in select stocks, and ended 49 points higher at 6,594. The Nifty moved up 16 points to 2,071.

While 20 Sensex stocks advanced, 10 declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 1.09 crore amounting to Rs 529.73 crore, and declining shares registered a volume of 21 lakh for Rs 70.59 crore.

SBI moved up 2.71% (Rs 17) to Rs 652. While HDFC Bank flared up 3.12% (Rs 18) to Rs 588, ICICI Bank was up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 367.

HPCL surged 4.48% (Rs 16) to Rs 372. While BHEL added 1.96% (Rs 15) to Rs 799, L&T notched up 2.90% gains (Rs 28) to Rs 996. Zee shot up 3% (Rs 5) to Rs 156.

Reliance was up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 537. ONGC was also up Rs 4 at Rs 824.While ITC at Rs 1,328 (up Rs 7) ended with steady gains, HLL closed up a tad at Rs 160.

Infosys (up Rs 2 to Rs 2,043) and Satyam (up Rs 3 to Rs 406) ended with modest gains. Wipro, however, was down a rupee at Rs 691.

ACC moved up 1.24% (Rs 5) to Rs 374. Grasim at Rs 1,350 (up Rs 9) and Gujarat Ambuja (up Rs 3 to Rs 456) also ended at higher levels.

Maruti advanced 4.46% (Rs 21) to Rs 488, and Tata Motors gained 1.57% (Rs 8) to Rs 500. Bajaj and Hero Honda, however, ended with marginal losses at Rs 1,072 and Rs 528, respectively.

Bharti dropped 2.54% (Rs 5) to Rs 209. Tata Power was down a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 392.

Subex Systems witnessed intense volatility today. Reports of promoter Alex J Puthenchira divesting over 12 lakh shares (13% equity of the company) to institutional investors in two block deals in the range of Rs 375-400 saw the scrip dive to a low of Rs 360.

The scrip bounced back on bargain hunting, and zoomed to a high of Rs 454. It finally closed with a marginal gain of Rs 6 at Rs 422. The counter logged a volume of over 22 lakh shares as against the 2-week average quantity of 23,500 shares.

According to a release issued by the company to the BSE, Alex has submitted his resignation from the position of executive director, and the same will be considered by the board of directors.

Titan was locked at its 20% upper limit at Rs 225 - a gain of Rs 37. The counter clocked a huge volume of 8.81 lakh shares as against the 2-week average quantity of 40,974 shares.