IT and banking stocks lift market

Sensex Open:13631 High:13745 Low:13631

Led by the sharp appreciation in IT and metal stocks, the upmove in the index was also supported by the gains in the techs. The Sensex opened higher at 13745 but slipped in early trades. The market staged a smart bounce back after trimming 100 points in the afternoon. The Sensex finally wrapped up the session with gains of 80 points at 13696. The Nifty advanced 26 points to close at 3954. The breadth of the market was negative. Of the 2,628 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,337 stocks declined, 1,225 stocks advanced while 66 stocks remained unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices the BSE IT index led the pack with gains of 1.38% at 5107. The BSE Teck index was up 1.37% at 3560 and the BSE Bankex gained 1.29% at 7180. The BSE FMCG index closed with marginal gains. However, the BSE Metal index declined 1.13% at 8,880. The rest of the sectoral indices closed in negative territory.

Among the techs Wipro surged 2.74% at Rs599, TCS advanced 2.36% at Rs1,192, Financial Technologies gained 2.32% at Rs2,100 and Satyam Computers added 1.69% at Rs459. However, Mphasis BFL declined 1.20% at Rs263. i-flex, Patni Computers and Hexaware closed with losses.

HDFC Bank surged 2.87% at Rs1,118, Dr Reddy’s added 2.20% at Rs751 and Cipla gained 1.97% at Rs254. ICICI Bank, Reliance Communication, Bharti Airtel, BHEL and HDFC closed with marginal gains. On the other hand Ranbaxy declined 2% at Rs372. Tata Steel, Hindalco, Gujarat Ambuja, ACC, Reliance Energy, NTPC and Bajaj Auto also closed with losses.

Parsvnath Developers Ltd made its debut on the BSE and touched the day's high of Rs579 and a low of Rs482. The stock ended on at Rs526. The stock was sold at Rs300 in the public offer.

Over 64.99 lakh IDFC shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Lanco Infratech (38.33 lakh shares), Dena Bank (22.31 lakh shares), Hindalco (15.94 lakh shares) and ITC (15.40 lakh shares).