Sensex up 71pts, tech scrips log gains

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 14 points at 7,819, and zoomed to a high of 7,902 in early deals. After moving in a narrow range for most part of the session, the Sensex finally closed with a gain of 71 points (0.91%) at 7,876.

All the sectoral indices again closed with gains. The BSE Auto Index was up 1.5% (49 points) at 3,279. The BSE Teck index was up a per cent (22 points) at 2,074.

Advances were ahead of declines - out of 2,669 scrips traded, 1,424 advanced, 1,191 declined and 54 were unchanged today.

Ranbaxy moved up 3.6% (Rs 19) to Rs 544.

Infosys added over 2% (Rs 50) to Rs 2,427. While Wipro was also up 2% (Rs 7) at Rs 371, TCS was up Rs 13 at Rs 1,419.

Bajaj gained 3% (Rs 42) to Rs 1,456. Maruti was also up 3% (Rs 14) to Rs 485. Hero Honda added 2.6% (Rs 16) to Rs 663. Tata Motors was up Rs 7 at Rs 470.

HLL was up 1.5% (Rs 2) at Rs 168. Reliance closed on a steady note at Rs 727 - up Rs 7. ONGC and ITC declined to Rs 976 and Rs 1,729, respectively.

Dr. Reddy's dropped over 3% (Rs 24) to Rs 775. HDFC Bank, Satyam, Hindalco and ACC also declined.

Tech scrips rallied today. Ramco Systems zoomed 10% (Rs 45) to Rs 474. Patni, which is part of the global IT outsourcing deal announced by ABN Amro, was up Rs 3 at Rs 429. Mastek, Geometric, MphasiS and Polaris also moved up.

HT Media opened with a gain of 29% at Rs 685 as against the IPO price of Rs 530 per share. After moving in a range of Rs 731 and Rs 542, the scrip finally closed at Rs 558 - a gain of 5%. The counter logged a volume of nearly 55 lakh shares.

Colgate was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 386 crore followed by HT Media (Rs 331 crore), Reliance (Rs 127 crore), IFSL (Rs 93 crore) and Zee (Rs 82 crore).