Sensex ends up 278pts, Satyam zooms 6%

Backed by bouyant Q4 numbers of Wipro and Satyam, the Sensex opened with a positive gap of 65 points at 13,685.  Unabated buying in heavyweights like Reliance, Bharti, ONGC and SBI saw the index soar to a high of 13,916.

The Sensex finally settled with a gain of 278 points (2%) at 13,897. The index has thus gained 513 points during the week.

The Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up around 1% each at 5699 and 6974, respectively.

The BSE Metal index surged 3.5% to 9702. The Oil & Gas index moved up 2.7% to 7052, and the IT index added 1.6% to 5055.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,665 stocks traded, 1,508 advanced, 1,072 declined and 85 were unchanged today.

HEAVYWEIGHTS FLEX MUSCLES

Satyam zoomed over 6% to Rs 476 on the back of better-than-expected Q4 numbers. Tata Steel soared 5.8% to Rs 534, and HDFC surged 5.5% to Rs 1,651.

Reliance Communications rallied 5% to Rs 456. Bharti Airtel advanced 3.4% to Rs 846, and Reliance added over 3% to Rs 1,541.

ONGC gained nearly 3% at Rs 921. Larsen & Toubro an SBI moved up 2% each to Rs 1,695 and Rs 1,075, respectively.

Gujarat Ambuja was up 1.8% at Rs 115. BHEL, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Grasim, Reliance Energy, ICICI Bank, TCS and ITC were up around 1% each today.

Wipro, after touching a high of Rs 600 in early trades, tumbled to a low of Rs 567, and finally settled with a loss of 1.4% at Rs 571.

HLL and Hero Honda were the only other losers among the index stocks today.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Tata Steel topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 241.35 crore followed by Advanta (Rs 178 crore), Reliance (Rs 135 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 103.65 crore) and Unitech (Rs 130 crore).

Idea Cellular led the volume chart with trades of around 95.50 lakh shares followed by Tata Teleservices (92.70 lakh), IFCI (92.50 lakh), Hindustan Oil Exploration (68.20 lakh) and G V Films (61 lakh).