The Sensex opened marginally (six points) higher at 5,657. Weakness in Infosys and Dr.Reddy's in early morning deals pulled down the index to an intra-day low of 5,623.
Thereafter, the index remained range-bound till late morning deals. Renewed buying in early noon session saw the index rebound into positive zone. Solid gains in auto, technology and metal stocks pushed the index to an intra-day high of 5,699 - up 76 points from the intra-day low.
However, fresh selling in the last hour of trading - mainly in Reliance - saw the index pare gains and finally finish with a modest gain of 12 points higher at 5,663.
The Nifty moved in a range of 1,798-1,774 before closing with a gain of three points at 1,784.
While 18 Sensex stocks advanced, 12 declined today. Advancing shares registered a volume of 1.43 crore for Rs 556.48 crore, and declining shares accounted for a volume of 0.56 crore amounting to Rs 271.95 crore.
Satyam surged 2.8% (Rs 10) to Rs 381. Infosys was up Rs 5 at Rs 1,868, and Wipro added Rs 2 to Rs 641.
Late selling at the Reliance counter saw the scrip plunge 1.9% (Rs 11) to Rs 541. ITC ended Rs 4 lower at Rs 1,085, and HLL shed Rs 2 to Rs 120.
ONGC declined Rs 7 to Rs 793. HPCL dropped 1.4% (Rs 4) to Rs 307.
HDFC Bank advanced 1.8% (Rs 8) to Rs 417, and ICICI added a per cent (Rs 3) to Rs 290. SBI, however, declined Rs 3 to Rs 449.
HDFC rallied 2.9% (Rs 18) to Rs 659.
Tisco moved up Rs 2 to Rs 292. Hindalco dropped Rs 8 to Rs 1,248.
Larsen & Toubro slipped over a per cent (Rs 9) to Rs 795. Bhel lost Rs 5 to Rs 636.
Dr.Reddy's was on a roller-coaster ride today. Earlier in the day, the scrip plunged 4.3% (Rs 32) to a low of Rs 703 after the announcement of the split with Novo Nordisk. However, heavy buying at lower levels saw the scrip rebound into positive zone and rally to an intra-day high of Rs 764 - up 8.7% (Rs 61) from the day's low. The scrip finally closed with a gain of 3% (Rs 22) at Rs 757. The counter clocked a healthy volume of around 3.65 lakh shares on the BSE.
While Cipla gained 1.7% (Rs 5) at Rs 272, Ranbaxy was down Rs 3 to Rs 1,067.
Maruti zoomed 3.5% (Rs 12) to Rs 360. Hero Honda rallied 2.8% (Rs 12) to Rs 437. Tata Motors moved up 1.3% (Rs 5) to Rs 409, and Bajaj Auto was up Rs 5 at Rs 948.
ACC surged 3% (Rs 7) to Rs 259 following impressive Q2 results. Gujarat Ambuja rallied 2.6% (Rs 9) to Rs 342. Grasim was up Rs 7 at Rs 1,115.
Tata Power gained 2.2% (Rs 6) at Rs 305.
Bharti Tele added 1.7% (Rs 3) to Rs 158.
The BSE Auto index rallied 1.4% to 2,317. The BSE TECk and Metal indices gained 0.7% each at 1,517 and 4,955, respectively. While the BSE BANKEX and PSU index finished in positive zones at 2,704 and 3,620, respectively, the BSE FMCG index ended 0.6% lower at 886.
Chennai Petro soared 12% (Rs 27) to Rs 246. Bongaigaon Refineries, Cummins, Fertilizers & Chemicals, LIC Housing Finance, SKF India, Titan, Ramco Systems, Geometric Software, Jindal Iron & Steel, MRPL, HMT, Sterling Biotech, GE Shipping, Kochi Refineries, Chambal Fertilizers, Aventis Pharma and BASF India rallied 4-8% each.
Exide plunged 3.6% (Rs 5) to Rs 145. Indian Rayon, Punjab National Bank, HCL Infosys, Apollo Hospitals, IPCA Labs, Canara Bank, Vijaya Bank, Dredging, Ispat Industries, Pidilite, Alfa Laval, Ashok Leyland and Ballarpur Industries declined 1-3% each.
SAIL topped the volume chart with a hefty combined (BSE+NSE) volume of around 3.04 crore shares. It was followed by Satyam (1.46 crore), Reliance (1.35 crore), Bongaigaon Refineries (1.24 crore) and Maruti (84.26 lakh).
Reliance topped the value chart with a combined turnover of Rs 735.94 crore followed by Satyam (Rs 551.32 crore), Maruti (Rs 299.17 crore), Infosys (Rs 282.23 crore) and Tisco (Rs 206.63 crore).
