Sensex gains 327 points to 18,853

Following Thursday's aggressive short-covering, the Sensex opened with a positive gap of 211 points at 18,737. The index moved in a range of 362 points - touched a high of 18,910, and a low of 18,548 - during the day.

The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 327 points at 18,853. In the process, the index reversed its six-day downtrend wherein it had shed 7% (1,403 points). The Nifty gained 89 points at 5,609.

The BSE Metal and Realty indices surged 3.5% each to 16,594 and 9,783, respectively. The Oil & Gas index gained 2.5% at 11,987.

The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,842 stocks traded, 1,760 advanced, 1,034 declined and 48 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS...

Reliance Energy zoomed 7.5% to Rs 1,725. DFL soared 5.5% to Rs 869.

HDFC, Larsen & Toubro and NTPC surged 4% each to Rs 2,666, Rs 4,100 and Rs 237, respectively.

Tata Motors rallied 3.3% to Rs 715. Reliance gained 3% at Rs 2,811.

Bajaj Auto and BHEL advanced 2.5% each to Rs 2,533 and Rs 2,543, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever and Infosys moved up nearly 2% each to Rs 206 and Rs 1,558, respectively.

Reliance Communications, ICICI Bank and TCS were up over 1% each at Rs 682, Rs 1,140 and Rs 960, respectively.
 

Major Gainers			Major Losers
Name	Close	% Chg	Name	Close	% Chg
Jindal Steel	12,096.00	20.7	Banco Prod	35.25	78.2
Revathi Equip	1101.00	20.0	Mukand Crps	4.01	14.0
Welspun India	102.00	20.0	Hind Hardy	117.45	12.6
EMA India	126.90	20.0	Kamadgi Synt	37.60	12.6
Kopran	34.80	20.0	Pharmaid Pharm	4.35	10.9
(Close = Stock pirce at the end of day in Rs)

...AND THE SHAKERS

Maruti and HDFC Bank dropped 2% each to Rs 947 and Rs 1,563, respectively.

Cipla shed 1% at Rs 181.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Petroleum topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 367.30 crore followed by Reliance Energy (Rs 291.30 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 252.75 crore), Reliance (Rs 232.70 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 202.80 crore).

Allied Computers led the volume chart with trades of around 2.74 crore shares followed by Tata Teleservices (2.52 crore), Reliance Petroleum (1.75 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.63 crore) and Ispat Industries (1.12 crore).