Markets subdued; Sterlite gains 4%, BHEL drops 3%

The Sensex opened 42 points lower at 15,032, and soon touched a low of 14,993. The index, thereafter, rebounded into the positive zone and touched a high of 15,280 - up  287 points from the day's low - amid alternate bouts of buying and selling.

For the second consecutive day, the index eventually pared gains and settled with a marginally higher (44 points) at 15,117.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,785 stocks traded, 1,412 moved up, 1,280 declined and 93 were unchanged today.

The NSE Nifty moved up six points to end at 4,524.

INDEX MOVERS...

Sterlite soared 4.4% to Rs 614. Tata Motors surged over 4% to Rs 444.

HDFC rallied 3.4% to Rs 2,477, and HDFC Bank added 3% to Rs 1,254.

Grasim, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti gained 2.5% each at Rs 2,089, Rs 576 and Rs 669, respectively.

Satyam moved up 2.3% to Rs 417. DLF and NTPC advanced 1.8% each to Rs 555 and Rs 183, respectively.

Infosys, Reliance Infrastructure and Jaiprakash Associates were up over 1% each at Rs 1,721, Rs 1,024 and Rs 187, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKERS

BHEL dropped nearly 3% to Rs 1,775. Bharti Airtel shed 2.3% at Rs 850.

Reliance Communications and Ranbaxy slipped 1.7% each to Rs 439 and Rs 504, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever declined 1.5% to Rs 242. Wipro, Tata Power and Reliance were down over 1% each at Rs 449, Rs 1,050 and Rs 2,271, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Capital topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 342.50 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 296 crore), Reliance (Rs 235.80 crore), SEL Manufacturing (Rs 228 crore) and ONGC (Rs 137.80 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 2.92 crore shares followed by Ispat Industries (1.41 crore), Tata Teleservices (1.19 crore), Kashyap Technologies (88.30 lakh) and Chambal Fertilisers (86 lakh).