Sensex ends up 296pts; BHEL zooms 8.6%

The index moved in a range of 217 points between 15,226 (high) and 15009 (low).

The index finally ended with a gain of  296 points at 15,185.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,716 stocks traded, 1,830 advanced, 809 declined, and 77 were unchanged.

The NSE Nifty moved up 74 points at 4,524.

INDEX MOVERS...

BHEL zoomed 8.6% to Rs 1,382. Ambuja Cements surged 7.7% to Rs 82. DLF advanced 7.5% to Rs 480.

HDFC gained 5% at Rs  2,101. Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank added 4.5% each to Rs 778 and Rs 1131, respectively.

ACC was up 3.8% to Rs 617. Jaiprakash Associates and Cipla advanced 3.4% each to Rs 177 and Rs 211, respectively.

Reliance gained 3% to Rs 2,199. L&T and Tata Steel were up 2.7% each to Rs 2,589 and Rs 820, respectively.

Infosys, SBI , NTPC, Reliance Infrastructure, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Satyam were the other gainers.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Tata Motors and Reliance Communications declined 1.4% each at Rs 513 and Rs 551, respectively.

Grasim, ITC and Maruti lost 1% each at Rs 2,217, Rs 202 and Rs 742, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever slipped 0.8% to Rs 234. Wipro and ONGC were the other major losers of the day.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Ranbaxy led the value chart with a turnover of  Rs 684.05 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 322.83 crore), Anu Labs (Rs 251.70 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 186.62 crore) and IFCI (Rs 164.99 crore).

IFCI topped the volume chart with trades of around 2.67 crore shares followed by Ranbaxy (1.19 crore),  Karuturi (1.08 crore), Ispat Industries (84 lakh) and Anu Labs (81 lakh).