Sensex gains amid lacklustre trades

The Sensex continued its upmove for the second consecutive session. Taking a cue from the strength in the international markets the domestic market resumed on a firm note at 12691, up 66 points. The revival of buying interest in metal, capital goods and banking stocks led the rally and the Sensex touched the day's high of 12835. Cement stocks had a weak outing on reports that the government has decided to cut import duty on cement to control the rising cement prices. The index was range-bound with a positive bias in the afternoon. The Sensex slipped towards the close and touched an intra-day low of 12691. The Sensex bounced back and closed the session with gains of 162 points at 12787. The Nifty closed at 3733, up 43 points.

The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,559 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,581 stocks advanced, 899 stocks declined and 79 stocks ended unchanged. Except the BSE Auto Index and the BSE FMCG Index, all the other sectoral indices closed with gains. The BSE CG Index gained 2.23% followed by the BSE HC Index (up 2%), the BSE CD Index (up 1.99%) and the BSE Metal Index (up 1.79%).

Heavyweights led the upsurge in the market. HDFC soared 5.15% at Rs1,497, NTPC surged 4.48% at Rs161, BHEL was up 4.39% at Rs2,353, Dr Reddy's gained 3.68% at Rs746, Wipro added 2.80% at Rs549, Cipla vaulted 2.10% at Rs229, ICICI Bank jumped 2.06% at Rs821, Tata Steel gained 1.95% at Rs438 and Bharti Airtel was up 1.76% at Rs748. Select counters, however, finished on a weak note. Hero Honda shed 2.27% at Rs644, Grasim dropped 1.92% at Rs2,064, Maruti Udyog declined 1.39% at Rs745 and Satyam Computer lost 1.23% at Rs453.

Capital Goods stocks rallied sharply. Praj Industries surged 10.04% at Rs390, Crompton Greaves jumped 6.80% at Rs196, Jyoti Structures added 5.94% at Rs171, Bharat Electrical advanced 4.46% at Rs1,581 and Alstom Projects gained 3.63% at Rs390. Areva, ABB and Punj Lloyd were up around 2% each.

Over 85.66 lakh IFCI shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Rana Sugars (48.13 lakh shares), Reliance Petroleum (37.45 lakh shares), India Bulls Real Estate (37.23 lakh shares) and NTPC (36.05 lakh shares).

Value-wise HDFC Bank registered a turnover of Rs112 crore on the BSE followed by Renuka Sugar (Rs98 crore), India Bulls Real Estate (Rs98 crore), Mindtree (Rs95 crore) and ACC (Rs95 crore).