Sensex up 71pts, L&T gains 4%

The Sensex opened with a huge positive gap of 53 points at 7,974, but dropped to a low of 7,921 in early morning deals. No surprises in the credit policy announcement by the RBI at noon saw the index zoom thereafter, and touch a high of 8,074 by late noon deals.

After dropping from the high level and bouncing again before the closing bell, the Sensex finally finished with a gain of 71 points at 7,992.

SBI gained over 2% (Rs 21) to Rs 885. ICICI Bank was up Rs 6 at Rs 594. HDFC Bank, however, declined Rs 5 to Rs 630.

While Reliance was up Rs 11 at Rs 768, ONGC added Rs 4 to Rs 930. ITC and HLL finished with gains at Rs 118 and Rs 167, respectively.

TCS added 2.6% (Rs 36) to Rs 1,443. Satyam was up 1.7% (Rs 10) at Rs 608. Infosys was up Rs 14 at Rs 2,522. Wipro added Rs 4 to Rs 377.

Dr. Reddy's moved up 4.6% (Rs 37) to Rs 844. Ranbaxy dropped 3% (Rs 11) to Rs 344.

L&T zoomed 4% (Rs 53) to Rs 1,351. BHEL gained 2.5% (Rs 28) to Rs 1,156. Bharti was up 1.8% (Rs 6) at Rs 330. ACC, Cipla, Tata Power, Tata Motors, NTPC and Hindalco and also finished with gains.

Maruti declined Rs 15 to Rs 557. Hero Honda was down Rs 11 at Rs 715. Tata Steel, Reliance Energy, Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja and Bajaj also declined.