Sensex ends up 197 points, Reliance gains 3%

After opening marginally (nine points) higher at 15,131, the Sensex zoomed to a high of 15,351 on the back of aggressive buying in NTPC, Tata Steel, Reliance and auto stocks.

The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 197 points at 15,319. The index thus gained over 6% (894 points) during the week. NSE Nifty ended at 4,457, up 45 points.

The Auto, Healthcare and Metal indices rallied over 2% each to 4878, 3573 and 11,566, respectively.

The market breadth was fairly positive -- out of 2,773 stocks traded, 1,640 advanced, 1,060 declined and 73 were unchanged.

Index Gainers

Mahindra & Mahindra zoomed 5% to Rs 709. Maruti soared over 4% to Rs 868, and Tata Motors rallied 3% to Rs 702.

Tata Steel surged 5% to Rs 690. NTPC gained 4.3% at Rs 173.

Ranbaxy moved up 3.5% to Rs 391. Hindustan Unilever added 3% to Rs 209.

Reliance advanced 2.7% to Rs 1,960. ONGC and TCS were up over 2% each at Rs 858 and Rs 1,065, respectively.

SBI, Reliance Energy, BHEL and Reliance Communications gained around 1.7% each at Rs 1,600, Rs 780, Rs 1,889 and Rs 543, respectively.

ICICI Bank moved up 1.5% to Rs 885. Cipla and Wipro were up 1.3% each at Rs 167 and Rs 482, respectively.

Value and Volume Toppers

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 232.40 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 129 crore), Nagarjuna Fertilisers (Rs 117.60 crore), SBI (Rs 112 crore) and Puravankara (Rs 111.60 crore).