Sensex gains 187pts, ends up third day in a row

After the 5% rally on Friday, the Sensex this morning opened 37 points higher at 8,794. The index extended gains in early trades but thereafter slipped into red to a low of 8,697.

However, aggressive buying in realty stocks helped the index recover. Positive cues from other global markets helped sentiment as buying spread to other sectors. The index touched a high of 8,956 in late trades.

The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 187 points at 8,944. In the process, the index has now gained 9.6% (784 points) in the last three trading days.

The BSE Realty index surged over 5% to 1,484. The Oil & Gas index gained 3.5% at 6,298, and Bankex added nearly 3% to 4,087.

The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,545 stocks traded, 1,613 advanced and 844 declined today.

INDEX MOVERS...

Jaiprakash Associates zoomed 9% to Rs 77. Mahindra & Mahindra soared 8.5% to Rs 374.

Ranbaxy and Reliance Communications surged nearly 7% each to Rs 148 and Rs 157, respectively.

DLF rallied over 6% to Rs 162. ICICI Bank gained 4.5% at Rs 323.

SBI, Sterlite and Reliance advanced around 3.5% each to Rs 988, Rs 293 and Rs 1,327, respectively.

Tata Motors and ITC added 3% each to Rs 166 and Rs 170, respectively.

TCS, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel were up around 2.5% each at Rs 520, Rs 236 and Rs 572, respectively.

BHEL, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Power were the other major gainers.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Sun Pharma and Maruti shed 2% each at Rs 1,001 and Rs 699, respectively.

Grasim slipped 1% to Rs 1,478.

OTHER PROMINENT GAINERS...

Akruti City zoomed nearly 20% to Rs 1,405. Jet Airways soared over 17% to Rs 149, and Reliance Natural Resources surged 16% to Rs 44. Essar Oil, Tata Teleservices, Sun TV, GMDC, MMTC and Indian Bank rallied 10-15% each.

...AND THE LOSERS

Tata Tea, Everest Kanto, Apollo Hospitals, Rei Agro and Tulip Telecom were the other major losers.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Akruti City topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 297.80 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 233 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 189 crore), Reliance Infrastructure (Rs 186.55 crore) and Educomp Solutions (Rs 175.65 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 2.09 crore shares followed by Unitech (1.39 crore), Pennar (1.33 crore), Satyam (1.21 crore) and Suzlon (97.50 lakh).