Sensex ends marginally above 17,300

Despite opening on a positive note, weak global cues and steadfast rupee climb saw the Sensex enter into negative territory. As selling gained momentum, the index shed over 146 points and nearly slipped below 17,150 before a bout of recovery saw it trim its losses. A positive close in most of the Asian markets and a sustained buying in energy, cement, and capital goods stocks helped the market enter into positive territory by afternoon. The market witnessed volatile trades for the later part of the trading session, but held firm above the 17,300 level. Substantial buying support in heavyweight, pharma, and oil and gas stocks led the Sensex surge to touch the day's high of 17,425. The Sensex finally wrapped up the session at 17,329, up 38 points. The Nifty ended the session at 5,069, up 48 points.

The market breadth was positive. Of the 2,840 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,637 stocks advanced, 1,131 stocks declined and 72 stocks ended unchanged. Most of the sectoral indices closed with gains. The PSU metal index rose by 1.97% followed by the BSE HC index (up 1.40%) and the BSE Oil & Gas index (up 1.26%).

Heavyweights led the upsurge in the market. Energy stocks were in the limelight on firm buying support. Reliance Energy vaulted 11.94% at Rs1,349 and NTPC jumped 6.49% at Rs206. Among the other major gainers Reliance Communication shot up by 4.48% at Rs612, ONGC increased by 4.09% at Rs997 and Cipla soared by 3.43% at Rs189. Ambuja Cement added 2.47% at Rs147, Grasim Industries gained 2.45% at Rs3,600 and Dr Reddy's Lab moved up by 1.68% at Rs660. Select counters, however, finished on a weak note. SBI shed 2.93% at Rs1,894, HDFC Bank dropped 2.44% at Rs1,404, Bajaj Auto declined by 2.19% at Rs2,484 and BHEL lost 2.10% at Rs1,990.

Over 3.39 crore Ispat Industries shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Natural Resources (3 crore shares), Tata Teleservices (1.99 crore shares), IKF Technologies (1.85 crore shares) and Himachal Futuristic Communications (1.80 crore shares).

Valuewise, Reliance Energy registered a turnover of Rs556 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Capital (Rs492 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs282 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs204 crore) and Reliance Communications (Rs190 crore).