Sensex up 73pts, Tata Steel zooms 7%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 31 points at 11,620, but soon dropped to a low of 11,535. After moving in a narrow range for most part of the session, renewed buying towards the close saw the index hit a high of 11,692 - a gain of 157 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 73 points at 11,662.

The BSE Metal Index zoomed nearly 5% (448 points) to 9625. The BSE SmallCap Index was up 1.4% (97 points) at 6971. The BSE Consumer Durables Index declined 1.7% (55 points) to 3260.

The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,591 scrips traded, 1,534 advanced, 1,012 declined and 45 were unchanged today.

Tata Steel zoomed nearly 7% (Rs 37) to Rs 579.  Tata Motors gained over 2% (Rs 23) to Rs 950.

Cement stocks rallied sharply today. Grasim zoomed 4.6% (Rs 100) to Rs 2,300. ACC advanced 3.6% (Rs 32) to Rs 919. Gujarat Ambuja moved up 3.9% (Rs 4) to Rs 112.

Infosys added Rs 21 to Rs 3,187. Satyam, which announced today that the board will meet on April 21 to consider a bonus issue, advanced over 2% (Rs 19) to Rs 836. TCS was up Rs 7 at Rs 1,896.

ONGC moved up over 1% (Rs 15) to Rs 1,293. Reliance was up Rs 2 at Rs 835. SBI slipped 1.5% (Rs 15) to Rs 963. HLL and ITC declined a rupee each to Rs 280 and Rs 199, respectively.

BHEL was up Rs 18 at Rs 2,395. L&T gained Rs 11 to Rs 2,654. Hindalco was up Rs 5 (2.7%) at Rs 192. HDFC Bank, Ranbaxy, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, Bajaj and Cipla also finished with gains.

Metal scrips sizzled today. Jindal Stainless zoomed over 14% (Rs 16) to Rs 127. Essar Steel advanced over 8% to Rs 52. SAIL gained over 5% to Rs 84. Hindustan Zinc added over 4% to Rs 686.

Uttam Sugar was the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 210 crore followed by Satyam (Rs 187 crore), Hindustan Zinc (Rs 145 crore), ACC (Rs 131 crore) and Infosys (Rs 129 crore).