Sensex ends up 248pts; tech stocks rally

Mirroing gains in other Asian markets, the Sensex opened 185 points higher at 10,126. The index, thereafter, displayed positive bias throughout the day albeit on a negative market breadth.

A surprise 100 basis points repo rate cut by the RBI, saw the index surge to a high of 10,538. The index, however, soon pared gains and touched a low of 10,023. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 248 points at 10,223.

The BSE IT index zoomed 8% to 2,741. The Realy index, however, shed 3.7% at 2,431.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,616 stocks traded, 1,643 declined, 920 advanced and 53 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS...

TCS zoomed 9.5% to Rs 497, and Wipro soared 9% to Rs 281. Satyam surged 8.7% to Rs 289, and Infosys rallied 8% to Rs 1,298.

HDFC Bank moved up 6% to Rs 1,085, and HDFC added 5.7% to Rs 1,878. ICICI Bank gained 5% at Rs 411.

Bharti Airtel advanced 4.6% to Rs 708. ITC was up 4% at Rs 165.

Maruti moved up 2.7% to Rs 658. Ranbaxy and Hindalco were up 2% each at Rs 262 and Rs 65, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKERS

BHEL and Grasim slumped around 8% each to Rs 1,096 and Rs 1,191, respectively.

DLF plunged 6.5% to Rs 273. ACC tumbled over 6% to Rs 459.

Mahindra & Mahindra shed 5.5% at Rs 417. Tata Power dropped 3.7% to Rs 720. Reliance Infrastructure was down nearly 2% to Rs 482.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Capital topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 290.35 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 275 crore), SBI (Rs 183.70 crore), Axis Bank (Rs 175.50 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 137.30 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 1.18 crore shares followed by Reliance Petroleum (94 lakh), Chambal Fertilisers (82.40 lakh), Cals Refineries (63.35 lakh) and HDIL (61 lakh).