Sensex ends above 18K, Hindalco gains 9%

BS Reporter / Mumbai February 15, 2008

The Sensex opened with a huge negative gap of 226 points at 17,541 on bearish cues from the US markets. The index soon slipped to a low of 17,445 - down 322 points from the previous close. Buying at lower levels saw the index recoup losses and move into positive zone as the day progressed. The index crossed the 18,000-mark and touched a high of 18,143 - up 698 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 2% (349 points) at 18,115. The Mid-cap index surged nearly 2% (139 points) to 7,592, and the Small-cap index rallied 2.3% (213 points) to 9,408. The BSE Metal and Realty indices gained 3.5% each at 16,167 and 10,497, respectively. The Oil & Gas index moved up 3% to 11,269. The NSE Nifty gained almost 2% (101 points) at 5,303. The BSE market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,793 stocks traded, 1,986 advanced, 761 declined and the rest were unchanged today. INDEX MOVERS... Hindalco zoomed 9% to Rs 179. Tata Steel gained 5% to Rs 819. Bajaj Auto rallied nearly 5% to Rs 2,175. SBI, Ranbaxy and Hindustan Unilever gained around 4% each to Rs 2,298, Rs 396 and Rs 211, respectively. Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance moved up over 3% each to Rs 619 and Rs 2,591, respectively. ICICI Bank and Tata Motors gained 2.5% each at Rs 1,191 and Rs 751, respectively. HDFC added 2% to Rs 2,921. ITC and DLF moved up 1.7% each to Rs 203 and Rs 879, respectively. Infosys and Wipro were up over 1% each at Rs 1,565 and Rs 420, respectively. ...AND THE SHAKERS Maruti slipped over 2% to Rs 813, and Grasim declined over 1% to Rs 2,814. Major Gainers Major Losers Name Close % Chg Name Close % Chg Murli Inds 619.25 20.0 RPG Life 54.70 16.4 Rama Newsprint 31.35 19.9 Sky Inds 86.65 15.8 Priya Spin 18.15 19.8 Nicholas Piramal 288.25 12.6 Man Inds 122.10 19.0 Modipon 60.55 10.2 Valson Ind 47.00 19.0 U P Hotels 350.00 7.8 (Close = Stock pirce at the end of day in Rs) MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS Reliance Power topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 444.20 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 395.80 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 260.60 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs 253.30 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 241.30 crore). Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart wit trades of around 2.95 crore shares followed by Ispat Industries (1.76 crore), Reliance Petroleum (1.53 crore), IFCI (1.36 crore) and Reliance Power (1.18 crore).