Market ends upbeat, gains 80 points

It appeared that the market was heading towards a negative close but hectic buying in information technology and metal stocks towards the close saw the Sensex recover and end the day with substantial gains. The Sensex began the trading session with a positive gap of 22 points at 12925 and moved up to touch 12962. However the market slipped into the red in the afternoon as selling intensified in heavyweight, fast moving consumer goods and pharma stocks, which dragged down the Sensex to an intra-day low of 12817. The market regained its strength towards the close on sustained buying at lower levels and the Sensex rebounded into positive territory to end the session with gains of 80 points at 12983. The Nifty wrapped up the session with gains of 36 points at 3771.

The market breadth was positive. Of the 2,675 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,739 stocks advanced, 851 stocks declined and 85 stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices the BSE CD Index surged 1.72%, the BSE CG Index jumped 1.22%, the BSE PSU Index added 1.17% and the BSE Oil & Gas Index was up 1.08%. However, the BSE FMCG Index closed with marginal losses.

Several index heavyweights notched up significant gains on fresh buying support. Among the major gainers Satyam Computers soared 2.20% at Rs452, TCS gained 2.12% at Rs1,265, Grasim jumped 1.97% at Rs2,054, Tata Steel added 1.91% at Rs445 and Cipla was up 1.85% at Rs237. ONGC at Rs807, Wipro at Rs581, NTPC at Rs142, HDFC at Rs1,607 and L&T at Rs1,530 gained over 1% each.

Select counters came under selling pressure and ended in the red. HLL tanked 2.05% at Rs181 and Reliance Energy declined 1.74% at Rs466. Ranbaxy, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and Hero Honda ended with the marginal losses.