Sensex ends up 181pts; metal stocks sizzle

The buying momentum witnessed yesterday, coupled with positive cues from the global markets, saw the Sensex open today with a positive gap of 125 points at 15,217.

The index rallied to a new, all-time intra-day high of 15,331 - up 239 points from the last close. The Sensex finally ended with a significant gain of 181 points at 15,273.

The BSE Metal index gained a whopping 4.5% (526 points) to 12,001.

The market breadth turned negative towards the close as mid-cap and small-cap stocks witnessed profit-booking - out of 2,737 stocks traded, 1,529 declined, 1,154 advanced and 54 were unchanged today.

THE INDEX MOVERS....

Hindalco soared 6% to Rs 174. Tata Motors rallied 3.8% to Rs 767, and Tata Steel surged 3.4% to Rs 695.

Reliance gained nearly 3% to Rs 1,769. Satyam and Mahindra & Mahindra moved up nearly 3% each to Rs 493 and Rs 825, respectively.

BHEL and HDFC Bank advanced 2.5% each to Rs 1,684 and 1,231, respectively.

ACC, Ambuja Cements, ITC and Grasim gained around 2% each at Rs 1,096, Rs 129, Rs 156 and Rs 2,871, respectively.

Reliance Energy, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro were up 1% each at Rs 675, Rs 1,940 and Rs 2,400, respectively.

....AND THE SHAKERS

TCS and Dr.Reddy's slipped 2% each to Rs 1,137 and Rs 668, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever and Ranbaxy shed 1.5% each to Rs 203 and Rs 353, respectively.

Reliance Communications, Cipla and Bajaj Auto were down 1% each to Rs 555, Rs 211 and Rs 2,175, respectively.

METAL STOCKS SIZZLE

SAIL zoomed 10.5% to Rs 160. Hindustan Zinc soared 8% to Rs 798. Jindal Steel, National Aluminium, Sesa Goa and Sterlite Industries gained 3-6% each.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

GMR Infrastructure topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 396.60 crore followed by India Infoline (Rs 187 crore), Reliance (Rs 175 crore), Infosys (Rs 169.30 crore) and DLF (Rs 152.50 crore).

Bellary Steel led the volume chart with trades of around 1.70 crore shares followed by Silverline (1.08 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (97.50 lakh), IFCI (93 lakh) and SAIL (64.20 lakh).