Sensex up 23pts; HUL up 3%, ACC down 5.5%

The Sensex was trading in the red in afternoon trades and finally ended at 16,721 points, 23 points higher.

The market breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,785 stocks traded, 1,266 advanced, 1,464 declined and 55 were unchanged today.

The NSE Nifty settled with a loss of 23 points at 4,999.

INDEX SHAKERS...

ACC was the biggest loser on the Sensex, down 5.5% to Rs 798. Reliance Communication and Reliance Energy were down 2.89% and 2.73%.

NTPC and Tata Steel declined 2.68% and 2.65% respectively.

Maruti was down 2% after its Q4 results. Cipla, DLF, ITC and ONGC all declined over 1% each.

...AND THE MOVERS

Hindustan Unilever was the biggest gainer, up 3.12% to Rs 249.35. The IT pack was also in demand. Infosys gained 2.86%, Satyam was up 2.06% and Wipro rose 1.46%.

ICICI  Bank, L&T, Jaiprakash Associates and Bhel gained over 1%.

Reliance Industries gained 0.14%, while Tata Motors was up 0.54%.

TCS remained unchanged.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Reliance Petroleum topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 200.9 crore followed by Reliance Industries (Rs 179.6 crore), Essar Oil (Rs 172.2 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 133 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 126.96 crore).

IFCI led the volume chart with trades of around 1.84 crore shares followed by Indiabulls Securities (1.1 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.08 crore), Reliance Petroleum (1.02 crore) and Essar Oil (0.6 crore).