Sensex up 57pts, PSU banks' scrips rally

The Sensex opened with a huge positive gap of 64 points at 8,548 after Infosys announced its better-than-expected Q2 numbers before the start of trading.

After touching a high of 8,564, profit-taking at higher levels saw the index drift to a low of 8,382 - an intra-day swing of 182 points. Buying at lower levels again saw the Sensex finally close with a gain of 57 points (0.67%) at 8,541.

The sectoral indices finished on a mixed note. The BSE Bankex moved up 1.95% (94 points) to 4,914. The BSE Teck Index was up 1.24% (27 points) at 2,220. The BSE PSU, Auto and Oil & Gas indices also closed at higher levels today.

The BSE FMCG Index was down 0.84% (13 points) at 1,482. The BSE Metal, Healthcare, Capital Goods, SmallCap and MidCap indices also declined.

Declines continued to be ahead of advances - out of 2,498 scrips traded, 1,803 declined, 645 advanced and 50 were unchanged today.

Infosys advanced 2.3% (Rs 61) to Rs 2,684. Satyam was up Rs 6 at Rs 599. While TCS gained Rs 19 to Rs 1,468, Wipro moved up Rs 4 to Rs 398.

SBI zoomed 3.7% (Rs 34) to Rs 937. ONGC advanced Rs 25 (2.4%) to Rs 1,054.  Reliance was up Rs 5 at Rs 788.

Tata Motors advanced 3.7% (Rs 20) to Rs 559. While Maruti was up 2% (Rs 13) at Rs 572, Bajaj added Rs 19 to Rs 1,753. Hero Honda, however, was down Rs 16 at Rs 729.

ACC moved up over 1% (Rs 6) to Rs 474. Bharti, Cipla, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel also finished with gains.

Dr. Reddy's slipped over 3% (Rs 31) to Rs 937. Ranbaxy was down 2% (Rs 11) at Rs 489. BHEL declined Rs 22 to Rs 1,174. Grasim was down Rs 21 at Rs 1,265.

Crompton Greaves gained over 6% (Rs 41) to Rs 681. GMDC was up 6% (Rs 28) at Rs 472.

PSU bank scrips logged gains today. BoI moved up over 6% to Rs 126. OBC was up 4% at Rs 293. IOB, BoB, Syndicate, PNB, Canara, Union Bank and IDBI also closed with gains of over 2% each.

iGate Global dropped over 8% (Rs 23) to Rs 254. Geometric declined 4% to Rs 92. CMC was down 3% at Rs 526.

Welspun Gujarat was down 6% at Rs 103. Alstom Projects slipped 4% to Rs 187.

Infosys was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 219 crore followed by SBI (Rs 208 crore), Reliance (Rs 186 crore), Satyam (Rs 124 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 88 crore).