Sensex gains, but ends off its highs

After witnessing range-bound movement for the day, the market settled in positive territory. The Sensex kissed the day's high of 17,860, up 210 points from the previous close of 17,650, and finally ended with gains of 155 points at 17,806. The Nifty gained 69 points to close at 5,270. The breadth of the market was marginally positive. Of the 2,785 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,645 stocks advanced, 1,079 stocks declined and 61 stocks ended unchanged.

Among the 11 sectoral indices, BSE Power index rose 2.65% at 3,706, BSE Realty index added 2.53% at 10,016 and BSE CG index gained 2.05% at 16,124, while the remaining indices ended with marginal profits.

Front-line stocks like Grasim led the upmove and soared 5.06% at Rs3,042.70. REL rose 4.59% at Rs1,697.25, BHEL jumped 4.58% at Rs2,180.55 and Infosys advanced 3.02% at Rs1,662. However, Bharti Airtel dropped 1.38% at Rs838.80, HDFC fell 0.48% at Rs2,574.35, Tata Motors declined 0.46% at Rs702 and SBI was down 0.36% at Rs2,119.85.

Suzlon Energy vaulted 6.26% at Rs314.85, REL surged 4.59% at Rs1,697.25, BHEL soared 4.58% at Rs2,180.55 and Crompton Greaves advanced 4.18% at Rs311.80. GMR Infrastructure, CESC, AREVA and SIEMENS gained 1-3% each in power stocks. The major gainers include Roto Pumps that gained 20% at Rs71.10, followed by Glory Poly moving up 20% at Rs105.30, and Mcleod Russel advancing 19.98% at Rs78.05.

Over 2.45 crore Tulsi Extrusion shares changed hands on the BSE followed by RNRL (1.14 crore shares), Gujarat NRE (0.68 crore shares), Reliance Power (0.66 crore shares) and Nagarjuna fertilisers (0.64 crore shares).