Sensex holds ground

The market witnessed volatility throughout the day, exhibiting strong optimism in the afternoon and ending with gains of 27 points. The Sensex began the trading session with a positive gap of 35 points, but eased on sustained selling to touch an intra-day low at 14112. Encouraging quarterly numbers of several companies triggered a rally and lifted the Sensex to the day's high of 14259. The Sensex finally ended the trading session with gains of 27 points at 14209. The Nifty advanced 12 points to close at 4102. The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,710 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,361 stocks advanced, 1,294 stocks declined and 55 stocks ended unchanged.

Among the prominent index gainers Maruti Udyog surged 3.05% at Rs939, Infosys soared 2.28% at Rs2,254, BHEL jumped 2.23% at Rs2,320, ITC added 2.11% at Rs179, Tata Motors advanced 1.51% at Rs964 and Bajaj Auto gained 1.14% at Rs2,761. However Satyam Computers shed 3.19% at Rs472, Ranbaxy tumbled 2.45% at Rs404, Reliance Energy was down 1.68% at Rs506 and L&T closed weaker by 1.20% at Rs1,551.

The BSE FMCG index was the major gainer among the sectoral indices and added 1.32% followed by the BSE CD index, which gained 0.94%. The BSE Auto index, the BSE HC index, the BSE PSU index, the BSE Teck index and the BSE IT index notched up marginal gains. However the BSE Bankex and the BSE Oil & Gas index closed in negative territory.

Among the FMCG stocks United Sprits gained 3.37% at Rs827, United Breweries added 2.31% at Rs208 and ITC advanced 2.11% at Rs179. Britannia Industries, HLL, Tata Tea and Nestle ended with marginal gains.

Over 32.95 lakh Crompton Greaves shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Ispat Industries (32.46 lakh shares), Cairn India (29.38 lakh shares) and Dena Bank (19.70 lakh shares).

Value-wise Satyam Computers clocked a turnover of Rs81.84 crore on the BSE followed by Maruti Udyog (Rs81.16 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs70.66 crore) and Crompton Greaves (Rs67.82 crore).