Sensex up 74pts at 12,454, Maruti zooms 4%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 34 points at 12,415, and moved up to a high of 12,485. After dipping to a low of 12,381, the index bounced back and closed with a gain of 74 points at 12,454.

All the sectoral indices, except the BSE Bankex, finished with gains today. The BSE Metal Index gained nearly 2% (163 points) to 8509. The BSE Auto Index advanced 1.8% (95 points) to 5366. The BSE Bankex declined 1% (56 points) to 6039.

The overall market was extremely bullish - out of 2,568 scrips traded, 1,609 advanced, 896 declined and 63 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Maruti zoomed over 4% (Rs 39) to Rs 981. While Bajaj gained nearly 2.5% (Rs 73) to Rs 2,998, Tata Motors was up over 2% (Rs 20) at Rs 862.

Tata Steel moved up over 3% (Rs 17) to Rs 536. HDFC gained over 2% (Rs 34) to Rs 1,534.

Grasim added nearly 2% (Rs 45) to Rs 2,520. While ACC gained Rs 15 to Rs 993, Gujarat Ambuja moved up to Rs 117.

Hero Honda declined 1.8% (Rs 14) to Rs 774.

ICICI Bank slipped over 1% to Rs 699. While HDFC Bank was down Rs 2 at Rs 926, SBI was down marginally to Rs 1,028.

VOLUME & VALUE TOPPERS

IndusInd Bank topped the volume chart with trades of over 1.09 crore shares followed by Jyoti Structures (48 lakh), Sterling Biotech (46 lakh), Facor Alloys (43 lakh) and SAIL (40 lakh).

Tata Steel topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 119 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 92 crore), Mahindra Gesco (Rs 72 crore), Bombay Dyeing (Rs 68 crore) and Unitech (Rs 67 crore).