The Sensex opened with a significant positive gap of 242 points at 14,643, and soon touched a high of 14,673 backed by smart gains in financial and realty stocks. Thereafter the index displayed firm trend in the first half of the trading day.

However, profit-taking towards the close saw the the index pare gains and touch a low of 14,416. The Sensex finally ended with a nominal gain of 49 points at 14,450.

The BSE Realty index surged 2% to 5,044, and the Bankex moved up 1.3% to 6,746. On the other hand, the Metal and Power indices slipped 1% each to 12,243 and 2,573, respectively.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,722 stocks traded, 1,347 advanced and 1,287 declined on Monday.

Index Movers. . .

HDFC [Get Quote] soared 3.6% to Rs 2,363. Mahindra & Mahindra surged 2.6% to Rs 564, and DLF gained 2.3% at Rs 495.

Tata Motors [Get Quote] rallied 2% to Rs 434. Satyam [Get Quote] and ICICI Bank [Get Quote] moved up 1.8% each to Rs 393 and Rs 656, respectively.

Grasim [Get Quote] moved up 1.5% to Rs 1,958. HDFC Bank was up over 1% at Rs 1,208.

. . . AND THE SHAKERS

Tata Power [Get Quote] and Jaiprakash Associates [Get Quote] dropped nearly 3% each to Rs 1,021 and Rs 160, respectively.

Ranbaxy [Get Quote] shed 2% at Rs 512. BHEL and Tata Steel [Get Quote] slipped around 1.5% each to Rs 1,689 and Rs 586, respectively.

Sterlite declined 1.3% to Rs 618. Maruti [Get Quote] was down over 1% at Rs 624.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Vishal Info topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 196.90 crore followed by Reliance Capital [Get Quote] (Rs 146.70 crore), Reliance (Rs 119 crore), Reliance Natural Resources [Get Quote] (Rs 114.70 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 90.10 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 1.20 crore shares followed by Vishal Info (62.60 lakh), Kashyap Technologies (59 lakh), Chambal Fertilisers (51.80 lakh) and Ispat Industries [Get Quote] (50.80 lakh).