The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 26 points at 5,725, which turned out to be the low for the day. Sustained buying in tech, bank, PSU and auto scrips saw the index move past the 5,800-mark in late noon deals. After touching a high of 5,814, the Sensex finally closed with a gain of 1.72% (98 points) at 5,797.

Advances hammered declines 4:1 among the index scrips on Monday. While 24 stocks advanced with a volume of 1.65 crore (16.5 million) for Rs 745 crore (Rs 7,450 million), six dropped on low volumes [22 lakh (2.2 million) and turnover of Rs 47 crore (Rs 470 million)].

The overall market also witnessed sustained buying, and the advance-decline ratio stood at 1,604:632.

ICICI Bank was the star performer among the index scrips. The stock zoomed nearly 6% (Rs 16) to Rs 302. The counter clocked a volume of nearly 49 lakh (4.9 million) for Rs 14.53 crore (Rs 145.3 million).

Infosys was firm right through the session, and advanced nearly 2% (Rs 98) to Rs 5,489. Wipro was up Rs 40 at Rs 1,753. Satyam added Rs 12 to Rs 371.

ITC touched a high of Rs 1,000 in intra-day deals, but finally closed with a gain of 1.8% (Rs 18) at Rs 993. Reliance moved up Rs 7 to Rs 537. HLL closed on a firm note at Rs 206 - up Rs 3.

SBI traded in positive zone right through, and closed with a gain of nearly 3% (Rs 15) at Rs 537. ONGC added Rs 12 to Rs 749. BHEL was up Rs 9 at Rs 499. HPCL opened on a weak note, but bounced into positive zone by noon and closed with a gain of Rs 7 at Rs 444. 

Dr. Reddy's gained Rs 35 to Rs 1,458. Ranbaxy was up Rs 8 at Rs 1,107.

Tisco moved up 4% (Rs 16) to Rs 441. Tata Motors was up Rs 9 at Rs 447. BSES gained Rs 13 to Rs 507.

Tech and bank scrips saw a lot of action today.

Moser Baer zoomed 10% (Rs 31) to Rs 336. Mastek advanced 7% to Rs 337. i-flex, HCL Tech, Polaris, NIIT, E-Serve, Mphasis and Digital also moved up.

HDFC Bank gained more than 4% (Rs 15) to Rs 373. Syndicate Bank zoomed 7% to Rs 39. Federal Bank moved up 6% to Rs 269. Kotak Bank also added 6% to Rs 394. IDBI was up 4% at Rs 60. BoI, PNB, BoB, Canara, Union, Oriental, SBJ and UCO Bank also finished with gains.

IndusInd Bank, however, was down 3% at Rs 44. IDBI Bank dropped 2% to Rs 51. Corporation Bank was down 2% at Rs 239.

Select PSU stocks also finished in positive zones. Hindustan Organics jumped 9% to Rs 25. GAIL was up more than 6% to Rs 240. BPCL gained close to 4% (Rs 17) to Rs 459. SAIL was up 2% at Rs 53. RCF, STC, Bongaigon, BEL, IOC and SCI also logged gains.

SRF was locked at its 20% upper limit at Rs 57 - a gain of Rs 10. Sterling Biotech zoomed 12% to Rs 94. Hindustan Motors advanced 7% to Rs 20.

Balaji Telefilms moved up 7% to Rs 106.

Nicholas Pirmal dropped 3% (Rs 27) to Rs 801.