A mixed trend prevailed in the first half of the trading session today. After opening on a flat note at 6,599, the index switched between positive and negative zones before dipping to a low of 6,588 on selective selling pressure. A steady recovery pulled the markets into the green in afternoon trades, with the index soaring to a high of 6,685 on near across-the-board buying towards the fag-end of the trading session.The Sensex finally settled the session with a surge of 73 points at 6,671. The Nifty, too, rallied sharply to end 31 points higher at 2,075.While 23 Sensex stocks advanced, seven declined today. Advancing shares accounted for a volume of 1.10 crore amounting to Rs 681.96 crore, and declining shares registered a volume of 29 lakh for Rs 115.57 crore.The market breadth, however, ended weak. Of 2,023 scrips traded on the BSE, 1,193 stocks declined, 787 advanced and 43 remained unchanged.ONGC jumped 2% (Rs 18) to Rs 902. While ITC clocked a per cent gain (Rs 17) to Rs 1,531, HLL gained 1.78% (Rs 2) to Rs 132. More than 2 lakh HLL shares changed hands.Wipro vaulted 4.24% (Rs 29) to Rs 716, and Infosys, on volumes of 6.56 lakh, advanced 1.31% (Rs 28) to Rs 2,201. Satyam, however, lost a per cent (Rs 4) to Rs 449. Over 13.87 lakh Satyam shares changed hands on the BSE.BHEL, on reports of possible 10% stake sale by govt, advanced 4.56% (Rs 40) to Rs 910. Bharti jumped 3.23% (Rs 7) to Rs 227, and HDFC moved up 1.92% (Rs 15) to Rs 771. While Tata Power flared up 3.20% (Rs 12) to Rs 385, L&T surged 2% (Rs 22) to Rs 1,102. HPCL, however, lost 1.65% (Rs 6) to Rs 331.Ranbaxy, which clocked a volume of over 1.74 lakh, perked up 2.65% (Rs 28) to Rs 1,068. While Dr. Reddy's gained 2.55% (Rs 18) to Rs 722, Cipla was up 1.12% (Rs 3) at Rs 285.Hero Honda added 2.51% (Rs 14) to Rs 593. Bajaj was up a per cent (Rs 7) at Rs 1,220, while Tata Motors added 1.16% (Rs 5) to Rs 449.HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank dropped nearly 2% each to Rs 531 (down Rs 9) and Rs 392 (down Rs 7), respectively. SBI, however, was up a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 683. The counter registered a volume of over 20.64 lakh.Capital goods stocks firmed up on strong buying support. Alstom shot up nearly 10% (Rs 19) to Rs 206, with Alstrom Project gaining 4% (Rs 9) to close at 231. While KSB Pumps moved up 3.78% (Rs 11) to Rs 302, Thermax was up 1.68% (Rs 11) at Rs 668.Select metal stocks, however, shed ground on selling pressure. Southern Iron & Steel dropped 9.90% (Rs 2) to Rs 23, and Jindal Steel dropped 3.61% (Rs 33) to Rs 879. While Jindal Vijaynagar Steel declined 3.32% (Rs 10) to Rs 295, Sesa Goa lost 2.97% (Rs 19) to Rs 615. PSL, Ispat, Jindal Stainless and Bhushan Steel were down in a range of 1-2%.Among the sectoral indices BSE CD index rose 1.99% (up 72 pts) to 3,703, while BSE Teck index gained 1.42% to 1,756. BSE IT index was up 1.34% to 2,698.Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 161 crore, followed by SBI (Rs 117 crore), Infosys (Rs 86 crore), Satyam (Rs 84 crore) and Tisco (Rs 37 crore), respectively.
