The Sensex opened marginally lower (11 points) at 16,329, and slipped to a low of 16,253 in opening trades. Nervousness in early trades saw the index move in and out of positive zone.
The index, thereafter, moved up steadily on buying in technology and metal stocks. The Sensex touched a high of 16,596 in noon deals, and finally settled with a gain of 202 points (1.2%) at 16,542.
The index thus ended its four-day losing streak after dropping 1,486 points.
The BSE Small-cap index, however, shed 143 points (1.6%) at 8,810, and the Mid-cap index dropped 68 points (1%) to 7,114.
The BSE Bankex and Realty indices slipped 1.5% each to 8,916 (down 141 points) and 8,335(down 132 points), respectively.
The BSE IT index soared 138 points (3.8%) to 3,752, and the FMCG index surged 63 points (2.9%) to 2,232.
The NSE Nifty ended 57 points higher at 4,921.
The BSE market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,750 stocks traded, 1,941 declined and 762 advanced today.
INDEX MOVERS...
Satyam zoomed 6.7% to Rs 434. Infosys surged nearly 4% to Rs 1,475. While Wipro advanced over 3% to Rs 431, TCS gained 2.5% at Rs 875.
ITC added 5% at Rs 194. HDFC gained 4.5% at Rs 2,755.
Hindalco and Maruti rallied around 4% each to Rs 208 and Rs 940, respectively.
ONGC moved up 3% to Rs 988. Tata Steel added 2.7% to Rs 798.
Reliance Communications advanced 2.5% to Rs 528. NTPC, Reliance and Grasim gained over 2% each at Rs 195, Rs 2,293 and Rs 2,863, respectively.
...AND THE SHAKERS
Bajaj Auto slipped 3.3% to Rs 2,128. Reliance Energy dropped 3% to Rs 1,459.
Bharti Airtel declined 2.5% to Rs 750. Hindustan Unilever and HDFC Bank were down 1.5% each at Rs 226 and Rs 1,336, respectively.
ICICI Bank and SBI were down over 1% each at Rs 960 and Rs 1,854, respectively.
