Sensex zooms 284pts, ends firmly above 11,500

INFOSYS GAINS 5%, RELIANCE ADDS 4%

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 63 points at 11,343, and there was no looking back.... The index zoomed to a new, intra-day high of 11,579 - a gain of 299 points from the weekend close of 11,280. The Sensex finally closed with a solid gain of 284 points (2.5%) at 11,564.

The BSE Teck Index zoomed over 3% (89 points) to 2,802. The BSE SmallCap Index also gained over 3% (213 points) to 6,805. All the other sectoral indices, too, finished with strong gains today.

Advances accounted for nearly 85% of the stocks traded - Out of 2,580 scrips traded, 2,185 (84.69%) advanced, 350 (13.57%) declined and 45 were unchanged today.

Infosys zoomed 5.5% (Rs 162) to Rs 3,143. Satyam added nearly 4% (Rs 33) to Rs 882. TCS was up Rs 33 at Rs 1,947.

Reliance was firm right through the session, and gained over 4% (Rs 33) to Rs 829. HLL moved up over 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 279. ITC was also up over 2% (Rs 4) at Rs 199.

ICICI Bank added 2.5% (Rs 15) to Rs 604. SBI gained Rs 15 to Rs 983.

Grasim zoomed over 4% (Rs 87) to Rs 2,145. ACC gained 1.7% (Rs 13) to Rs 795. Gujarat Ambuja was up 3% (Rs 3) at Rs 106.

Tata Motors moved up over 4% (Rs 39) to Rs 972. Maruti also gained over 4% (Rs 37) to Rs 912. Bajaj advanced 2.7% (Rs 75) to Rs 2,821.

BHEL added over 2% (Rs 51) to Rs 2,298. L&T was up Rs 58 at Rs 2,491.

Cipla gained 3.7% (Rs 25) to Rs 687. Dr. Reddy's was up 1.9% (Rs 27) at Rs 1,447.

While 814 scrips hit their respective upper limits, 54 were locked at their lower limits.

Capital goods scrips logged huge gains today. Siemens zoomed nearly 7% (Rs 389) to Rs 6,072. ABB advanced 4.7% (Rs 138) to Rs 3,064. HMT vaulted 9% to Rs 77. Crompton Greaves added over 5% to Rs 1,103. LMW moved up over 8% (Rs 1,883) to Rs 23,668.

Solar Explosives was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 160 crore followed by Infosys (Rs 148 crore), Reliance (Rs 139 crore), Reliance Communication Ventures (Rs 111 crore) and Maruti (Rs 98 crore).