Buoyancy in overseas markets keeps Sensex firm

The market held firm above the 14450 level for almost the entire trading session as strong US and Asian markets created a perfect platform for investors. After registering a loss of 70 points yesterday, the market resumed with a positive gap of 67 points at 14498. The Sensex remained firm thereafter but within a range. The sustained buying in cement, capital goods and consumer durable stocks saw the Sensex touch the day's high of 14537 by the afternoon. But, some profit booking towards the close dragged the Sensex to its day's low of 14435, up four points over its previous close. However, late buying in index pivotal stocks lifted the Sensex to end the session with a gain of 74 points at 14505, while the Nifty closed its session by adding 18 points at 4282.

The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,651 stocks that traded on the BSE, 1,445 stocks advanced, 1,139 stocks declined and 67 stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices, the BSE CD index moved up by 0.73% followed by the BSE CG index (up 0.70%) and the BSE Bankex (up 0.44%). However, the BSE Auto index, the BSE HC index, the BSE IT index, the BSE Metal index, the BSE Oil & Gas index and the BSE Teck index closed in negative territory.

Among the index heavyweights, cement majors registered solid gains ACC flared up by 8.33% at Rs899, Gujarat Ambuja Cement spurted 7.43% at Rs125, Grasim scaled up 4.82% at Rs2,624, while HDFC soared 5.02% at Rs1,958, SBI advanced 1.60% at Rs1,470, Ranbaxy moved up by 1.52% at Rs348 and Wipro added 1.04% at Rs515. However, Bajaj Auto tumbled 1.75% at Rs2,094, ONGC slipped 1.62% at Rs906 and Cipla fell 1.14% at Rs203.

Over 4.71 crore Meghmani Organics shares changed hands on the BSE followed by IFCI (2.53 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (1.33 crore shares), IKF Technologies (1.03 crore shares) and Reliance Petroleum (77.47 lakh shares).

IFCI was the most actively traded counter on the BSE and registered a turnover of Rs137 crore followed by Meghmani Organics (Rs132 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs110 crore), SBI (Rs108 crore) and Orbit Organic (Rs131 crore).