Sensex ends up 85pts; Edelweiss zooms 83%

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 94 points at 20,197 following the sharp drop in the overseas markets after the US Fed cut its key rate by a lower-than-expected 25 bps.

The index soon slipped to a low of 20,045 - down 246 points from the previous close - in early trades.

The index, thereafter, stabilised and began to recover as the day progressed. Aggressive buying in the last hour of trade saw the index rally to a fresh all-time intra-day high of 20,419 - up 374 points from the day's low.

The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 85 points at a new closing record of 20,376.

The Small-cap index rallied nearly 2% to 11,885, and the Mid-cap index surged 1.7% to 9,339.

The NSE Nifty recovered from a low of 6005, and zoomed to a fresh all-time intra-day high of 6176 before finally settling with a gain of 62 poins at 6159.

The market breadth on the BSE was fairly positive with advancing stocks outnumbering declining stocks nearly 3:1 - out of 2,924 stocks traded, 2,139 moved up, 750 were down and the rest were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS...

HDFC zoomed over 5% to Rs 3,104. Reliance Communications and Tata Steel soared 3.5% each to Rs 766 and Rs 864, respectively.

NTPC and Hindalco surged over 3% each to Rs 251 and Rs 206, respectively.

Cipla and Bharti Airtel rallied over 2% each to Rs 200 and Rs 1,054, respectively.

ONGC gained 1.4% at Rs 1,256. TCS and ITC were the other major gainers at Rs 1,049 and Rs 189, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Infosys plunged over 3% to Rs 1,685, and Satyam dropped 2.4% to Rs 431.

ICICI Bank slipped 2% to Rs 1,290.

EDELWEISS SHINES ON DAY 1

Edelweiss Capital listed at a premium of 75% on the BSE at Rs 1,444 as against the issue price of Rs 825. The stock zoomed to a high of Rs 1,609, and finally ended with a huge gain of 83% at Rs 1,510.

Renaissance Jewellery listed at Rs 190 on the BSE - a premium of 26.7% against its issue price of Rs 150. The stock soared to a high of Rs 200, and then corrected to a low of Rs 163 before closing at Rs 165 - a gain of 10%.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Debutant Edelweiss Capital topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 552.70 crore followed by Essar Oil (Rs 315.30 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 256.50 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 178 crore) and Jindal Steel (Rs 173.25 crore).

IKF Technologies led the volume chart with trades of around four crore shares followd by G V Films (3.86 crore), Tata Teleservices (2.54 crore), Ispat Industries (1.55 crore) and Gujarat Petronet (1.52 crore).