Sensex makes fag-end recovery, ends up 34pts

The Sensex today opened 53 points higher at 14,893 on positive global cues. However, it could not hold gains and slipped into the negative zone. The index extended losses in noon trades and touched the day's low of 14,608, down 386 points from the day's high. In the last few minutes, the index gained strength and rebounded into the positive zone.

The Sensex finally ended at 14,875, up 34 points.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,850 stocks traded, 1,664 advanced while 1,130 declined.

INDEX SHAKERS...

ACC slumped 6% to Rs 785. Ranbaxy and Reliance Infrastructure slipped 4.5% each to Rs 262 and Rs 1,244, respectively.

Tata Power declined 3% to Rs 1,052. DLF, HDFC Bank and NTPC shed 2% each to Rs 405, Rs 1,398 and Rs 224, respectively.

Jaiprakash Associates, Wipro and Maruti Suzuki dropped around 1% each.

...AND MOVERS

Tata Steel surged 8% to Rs 474. HDFC and Sterlite gained 4% each at Rs 2,395 and Rs 691, respectively.

Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, SBI, Grasim, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Sun Pharma added 1-3% each.

OTHER PROMINENT LOSERS...

Indiabulls Real Estate slumped 6% to Rs 234. EIH, NMDC and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services dropped 5% each to Rs 134, Rs 434 and Rs 248, respectively.

IRB Infrastructure, Bank of India, Adani Enterprises, Hindustan Constructions, Financial Technologies and Essar Oil declined 4% each.

...AND OTHER GAINERS

Bajaj Holdings and Investments soared 12% to Rs 453. Rolta India and Ispat Industries zoomed 11% each to Rs 145 and Rs 27, respectively.

IFCI, Everest Kanto Cylinder, RCF, Gujarat NRE Coke, Tata Teleservices, Ashok Leyland, Moser Baer and Tech Mahindra added 7-10% each.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Essar Oil topped the value chart with a total turnover of Rs 923.70 crore, followed by Unitech (Rs 300.21 crore), DLF (Rs 289.14 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 271.04 crore) and HDIL (Rs 221.92 crore).

Essar oil, too, led volume chart with over 57 million shares traded on the BSE today. It was followed by Ispat Industries (46.97 million), Unitech (32.58 million), IFCI (32.42 million) and Reliance Natural Resources (18.77 million).