Sensex gains, but closes off its intra-day high

After witnessing range-bound moves through the day, the market settled in positive territory. The Sensex, which touched an intra-day high of 13799, finally ended the trading session with gains of 70 points at 13774. The Nifty gained 18 points to close at 3969. The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,632 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,446 stocks advanced, 1,115 stocks declined and 71 stocks ended unchanged.

Among the 11 sectoral indices, the BSE CD index rose 2% at 3371 and the BSE Bankex added 0.83% at 7209. However, the BSE FMCG index, the BSE HC index and the BSE Oil & Gas index were down 0.20% each.

Among the front-line stocks Gujarat Ambuja led the upmove and soared 3.43% at Rs143. ACC rose 3.39% at Rs1,109, NTPC jumped 2.56% at Rs154 and Bharti Airtel advanced 2.25% at Rs630. However, Dr Reddy's dropped 2.33% at Rs737, HLL fell 1.46% at Rs240, Cipla declined 1.15% at Rs261 and BHEL was down 1.01% at Rs2,503.

Rajesh Exports vaulted 9.90% at Rs252, Gitanjali Gems surged 8.31% at Rs222, Su-raj Diamond soared 7.56% at Rs52 and Suashis Diamond advanced 7.29% at Rs143. Goldiam International, Blue Star, VIP Industries and Blow Plast gained 1-4% each.

Among the major gainers Pidilite Industries surged 19.43% at Rs139, Punj Lloyd soared 9.04% at Rs1,047 and Crompton Greaves advanced 6.45% at Rs275.

Over 103.14 lakh Lanco Infrastructure shares were traded on the BSE followed by UTI Bank (70.05 lakh shares), NTPC (38.42 lakh shares), Great Eastern Shipping (37.25 lakh shares) and Adani Enterprises (25.07 lakh shares).