Sensex recovers, ITC soars

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 176 points at 15,414, and further dropped to a low of 15,364, on the back of weak global cues. However, the index soon pared losses owing to fresh buying at lower levels.

Steady buying in select heavyweights saw the index rebound into the positive zone in mid-noon trades. The index touched a high of 15,626 - up 262 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally a tad higher (six points) at 15,597.

While the BSE FMCG index soared nearly 2% to 2085, the IT index dropped nearly 2% to 4571.

The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,798 stocks traded so far, 1,653 advanced, 1,086 declined, and 59 were unchanged.

INDEX MOVERS...

ITC zoomed 3.7% to Rs 185. Ambuja Cements soared nearly 3% to Rs 144.

NTPC and Ranbaxy surged over 2% each to Rs 191 and Rs 419, respectively.

Reliance Energy moved up 1.6% to Rs 864. Reliance and SBI advanced 1.3% each to Rs 1,987 and Rs 1,641, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKERS

TCS tumbled nearly 3% to Rs 1,047. Wipro shed 2.4% to Rs 467. Infosys slipped 2% to Rs 1,872, and Satyam declined 1.7% to Rs 442.

ONGC plunged over 2% to Rs 832. Hindalco dropped 1.5% to Rs 155.

HDFC and Cipla were down over 1% each at Rs 2,104 and Rs 179, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

IFCI topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 164 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 123 crore), Aptech (Rs 106 crore), Reliance Petro (Rs 74 crore) and SBI (Rs 72.80 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 2.26 crore shares followed by Tata Tele (89 lakh), Nagarjuna Fertilisers (83 lakh), IKF Technologies (81 lakh) and Nandan Exim (64.30 lakh).