Strong comeback at tail end

Taking lead from weak global markets, the 30-stock Sensex of the BSE started the day with a pessimistic note--85 points lower at the opening bell.

The index remained subdued during the major part of the day and traded more than 200 points lower, as investors booked profits. Metal and IT stocks took the major beating. The index faltered by afternoon and slipped to the day's low of 14,494.92--224 points below the previous close. While the market fluctuated sharply thereafter, firm bullish sentiment and strong buying in heavyweights stocks in late trades helped the Sensex erase its losses. The Sensex finally ended the session 0.37% or 61 points up at 16,781.43. Nifty was up by 11 points at 4,986.55.

The market breadth was positive, as 52% stocks (1,470 stocks) advanced and 45% stocks (1,285 stocks) declined. Around 3% stocks (85 stocks) ended unchanged. Eight of the 13 sectoral indices ended in green. BSE Bankex advanced 1.48%, BSE HC was up 0.91%, BSE FMCG jumped 0.73% and BSE Realty gained 0.67%. However, BSE IT dropped 1.59% followed by BSE Metal that was down 1.13% and BSE Teck declining by 0.77%.

Among gainers, HDFC jumped 3.39% at Rs2743.15, HDFC Bank gained 3.39% at Rs1,622.10, Wipro soared 2.21% at Rs578.95 and Reliance Communications rose by 2.14% at Rs304.80, while National Thermal Power Corporation, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services, Jaiprakash Associates and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained more than 1% each. However, Hindalco Industries slipped 3.98% to Rs129.00, Infosys Technologies slumped 3.40% to Rs2285.10, Hero Honda shed 1.59% to quote Rs1,652.60, Tata Steel lost 1.41% to trade at Rs520.50, ACC declined 1.30% to Rs824.40, Maruti Suzuki India dropped 1.17% to Rs1,633.05 and ONGC was down 1.08% to Rs1,148.70.

On turnover front, over 1.31 crore Suzlon Energy shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Ispat Industries (1.05 crore shares), Unitech (84.41 lakh shares), IFCI (71.51 lakh shares) and UCO Bank (60.66 lakh shares).