Overnight gains on the US markets triggered early rally on the BSE, as the index opened firm with a gain of 27 points at 5,188 and jumped past the 5,200 mark to touch an intra-day high of 5,205.
The markets turned volatile in early deals as most of the counters witnessed profit-booking with tech stocks leading the downtrend, thereby pushing the index into negative territory. Though the markets gained in patches, heavy selling in most of the sectors in afternoon trades dragged the index to a low of 5,124.
The Sensex, however, shrugged off its losses towards the closing hours on renewed buying in heavyweights & other select old economy stocks, and ended with a gain of 25 points at 5,186. The Nifty bounced from a low of 1,640, and ended flat at 1,658.
Reliance, on renewed buying towards the closing hours, moved up 2% (Rs 10) to Rs 502. ITC added Rs 7 to Rs 878. HLL slipped into the red in mid-noon deals and closed down a rupee at Rs 178.
MTNL remained frim through the session, and ended 2% higher at Rs 124. SBI gained a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 475. BHEL recovered from its huge losses on buying support, but still ended nearly 2% lower (Rs 8) at Rs 461. HPCL remained weak through the session to finish down a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 369.
Dr. Reddy's and Cipla had a mixed outing through the session, and ended in the gainers list at Rs 1,329 (up Rs 19) and Rs 1,246 (up Rs 7), respectively. Ranbaxy, however, ended with a loss of 2% (Rs 18) at Rs 1,019.
Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja bounced from their lows to finish at higher levels at Rs 921 (up Rs 8) and Rs 293 (up Rs 2), respectively. ACC, which reported a 14% increase in November cement despatch, moved up nearly 2% (Rs 4) to Rs 234. L&T, however, closed down a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 408.
Hero Honda continued its fine showing on the bourses, and ended with a gain of 3% (Rs 12) at Rs 410. Tata Motors was up Rs 2 at Rs 427. Bajaj, which slipped heavily in intra-day trades, pared losses towards the close to finish with a loss of Rs 4 at Rs 1,002.
Wipro reeled under sustained selling pressure and slumped 3% (Rs 54) to Rs 1,565. Infosys, after opening marginally higher, traded weak through the session on selling pressure, and was down a per cent (Rs 30) at Rs 5,146. Satyam, however, ended in the green with a per cent gain (Rs 5) at Rs 475. The software major today signed a $8 million deal with the prestigious New Bangkok international airport information management system.
ICICI Bank, which saw the volumes surge over 2.73 crore yesterday, ended with gains at Rs 264 - up Rs 9 or 4%.
