Sensex up on positive global cues

The market rallied smartly towards the close on buying in select heavyweight, metal, capital goods and oil stocks and ended the session with gains of 69 points at 14110. The Sensex opened in positive territory at 14070 on the back of firm international markets and rallied further to touch the day's high at 14156.The market appeared to be heading towards a negative close after a strong bout of profit taking in the afternoon chopped off 112 points from the gains. The Sensex ended the session with gains of 69 points at 14110, while the Nifty added 24 points to close at 4090.

The breadth of the market was neutral. Of the 2,674 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,296 stocks advanced, 1,329 stocks declined and 49 stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices the BSE Metal index advanced 3.72% at 9229 followed by the BSE CG index (up 1.52% at 9469), the BSE PSU index (up 1.34% at 6232) and the BSE Oil & gas index (up 0.97% at 6639). However, the BSE Auto index, the BSE CD index, the BSE FMCG index, the BSE HC index and the BSE Teck index closed in negative territory.

L&T jumped 2.85% at Rs1,577, ONGC added 2.52% at Rs913, HDFC Bank advanced 2.50% at Rs1,057, BHEL was up 2.36% at Rs2,370 and HDFC added 2.26% at Rs1,643. Wipro, Maruti Udyog and ICICI Bank gained over 1% each. Among the metal stocks Sesa Goa soared 10.53%, SAIL added 7.52% and JSW Steel jumped 6.49%. Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries added over 3% each.

Over 80.35 lakh SAIL shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Kotak Bank (39.65 lakh shares), IDFC (34.57 lakh shares), Reliance Communication (33.46 lakh shares) and Tata Steel (30.47 lakh shares).