Sensex up 66pts, media scrips shine

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 24 points 7,187, but moved into positive zone by mid-morning deals. After moving in a narrow range for most part of the session, the index touched a high of 7,284 towards the closing bell. The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 66 points (0.92%) at 7,277.

While 24 index scrips advanced with a volume of 82 lakh shares totalling Rs 401 crore, six declined with a volume of 13 lakh shares for Rs 57 crore.

Infosys advanced nearly 2% (Rs 44) to Rs 2,395. Satyam was up Rs 7 at Rs 511. TCS gained Rs 4 to Rs 1,358, but Wipro was down a rupee at Rs 744.

ITC moved up nearly a per cent (Rs 12) to Rs 1,683. Reliance and SBI gained Rs 4 each to close at Rs 644 and Rs 711, respectively.

ACC was firm right through the day, and closed with a gain of Rs 4 at Rs 389. Gujarat Ambuja and Grasim also finished with gains.

Cipla moved up 3% (Rs 10) to Rs 329. Dr. Reddy's was up 2% (Rs 16) at Rs 776.

HDFC Bank moved up 2% (Rs 14) to Rs 632, and HDFC was up a per cent (Rs 10) at Rs 880.

Hindalco gained over 3% (Rs 37) to Rs 1,227. Tata Power was also up 3% at Rs 398.

All the sectoral indices closed with gains today with the BSE Consumer Durables Index gaining over 3% to close at 2,093 points. The BSE Midcap, BSE Smallcap, BSE Teck, BSE Bankex, BSE Healthcare and BSE Metal indices finished with gains of over 1% each today.

Advances beat declines nearly 2:1 - out of 2,578 scrips traded, 1,705 advanced, 802 declined and 71 were unchanged today.

TV Today zoomed 20% (Rs 17) to Rs 101. Mid-Day advanced over 5% to Rs 79. NDTV gained over 4% to Rs 248. Zee also moved up 4% to Rs 161. UTV, BAG Films and Deccan Chronicle also closed at higher levels today. Adlabs, however, dropped 5% (Rs 14) to Rs 267.

Tata Teleservices advanced 15% to Rs 31. J&K Bank was up 8% at Rs 389. VSNL moved up 7% to Rs 269.

Hexaware declined 5% to Rs 128. Geometric, CMC and Mastek also declined.

Tata Teleservices topped the volume chart with over 2.53 crore shares changing hands today.

SRF was the most active counter with a turnover of over Rs 132 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 92 crore) and Reliance (Rs 83 crore).