Volatile Sensex ends up 128pts; HDFC rallies 6%

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 94 points at 8,104 on the back of weak global cues. The US markets - Dow Jones & S&P had plunged to new 12-year lows on Thursday. Also, the major Asian markets - Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were down 3-5% each.

The Sensex after a weak opening soon touched a low of 8,047. However, fresh buying, mainly in banking stocks, helped the index recoup early loses. The index, thereafter, exhibited volatile movement before gaining strength in the last hour of trades, on the back by fresh buying in technology stocks.

The Sensex touched a high of 8,348 - up 301 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 128 points at 8,326.

The BSE IT index surged 3% to 2,072. The Oil & Gas index gained 1.8% at 5,724. On the other hand, the FMCG index dropped 1.7% to 1,854.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,500 stocks traded, 1,417 declined, 995 advanced and the rest were unchanged today

INDEX MOVERS...

HDFC soared 6.4% to Rs 1,223. Hindalco and Jaiprakash Associates surged 4.3% each to Rs 39 and Rs 70, respectively.

TCS rallied nearly 4% to Rs 481. Wipro and ONGC gained 3.3% each at Rs 213 and Rs 673, respectively.

Tata Steel and Infosys advanced 3% each to Rs 157 and Rs 1,219, respectively. Sun Pharma added 2.5% to Rs 1,022.

NTPC, Reliance Infrastructure, BHEL and Bharti Airtel moved up 2.2% each to Rs 177, Rs 452, Rs 1,313 and Rs 602, respectively.

Larsen & Toubro added 2% to Rs 580. Reliance, Sterlite and Mahindra & Mahindra were up nearly 2% each at Rs 1,171, Rs 250 and Rs 317, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Maruti and Hindustan Unilever shed 2.7% each at Rs 649 and Rs 224, respectively.

Ranbaxy has slipped over 2% to Rs 141. ITC dropped 1.6% to Rs 165, and DLF was down over 1% at Rs 145.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

ICICI Bank topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 411 crore followed by HDFC (Rs 410 crore), Reliance (Rs 236.60 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 159.70 crore) and Educomp Solutions (Rs 117.40 crore).

Satyam led the volume chart with trades of around 2.49 crore shares followed by ICICI Bank (1.52 crore), Cals Refineries (92.58 lakh), Unitech (81.79 lakh) and Jaiprakash Associates (73.27 lakh).