The Sensex opened above the 6,500 level at 6,504 - a gain of five points over its previous close. While selective buying lifted the gains of the index in early trades, the market thereafter moved in a narrow range of 6,520-6525 till mid-noon trades.
The market witnessed a strong upward movement towards the fag-end of the trading session as extended buying in select old and new economy stocks pushed the gains of the index to an intra-day high of 6,550.
The Sensex finally settled the session with a gain of 40 points at 5,539. The Nifty moved up 22 points to 2,014.
ONGC surged 2.39% (Rs 20) to Rs 868. While Reliance flared up 2% (Rs 11) to Rs 531, HLL, however, shed 1.65% (Rs 2) to Rs 128.
Satyam soared 3.82% (Rs 17) to Rs 460. While Wipro ended with a steady gain of Rs 3 at Rs 668, Infosys, however, ended on a subdued note at Rs 2,135 - down Rs 7.
BHEL jumped 2.14% (Rs 18) to Rs 873, and Bharti added 1.55% (Rs 3) to Rs 219. While HPCL scaled up 2.63% (Rs 9) to Rs 338, Reliance Energy was up 1.65% (Rs 8) at Rs 484.
ICICI Bank moved up 1.49% (Rs 6) to Rs 403, while HDFC Bank gained 1.36% (Rs 7) to Rs 546. SBI ended with a rupee gain at Rs 650.
Maruti advanced 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 454. While Hero Honda was up a per cent (Rs 4) at Rs 572, Tata Motors ended marginally higher at Rs 433.
HDFC, however, declined a per cent (Rs 8) to Rs 757, and Tisco lost 1.28% (Rs 5) to Rs 351.
Dr. Reddy's was up a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 696. While Ranbaxy finished with a modest gain of Rs 3 at Rs 980, Cipla, however, was down a tad at Rs 273.
