After opening 23 points higher at 4,845, the markets, on steady buying support in select stocks displayed range-bound trend till early noon deals. Renewed buying, notably in tech, select PSUs, pharma and auto stocks, lifted the index to an intra-day high of 4,900 towards the closing hours. The Sensex slightly fell short of 4,900 levels, but still managed to garner 72 points gain to close at 4,894. The Nifty advanced 25 points to 1,569.
Reliance, on renewed buying support, rose nearly 3% (Rs 12) to Rs 467. HLL bounced from its lows to close up a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 179. ITC, however, ended off-gains to close with a per cent loss (Rs 6) at Rs 853.
HPCL remained firm through the session, and logged 5% gains (Rs 18) to Rs 359. SBI (up Rs 7 to Rs 454), BHEL (up Rs 6 to Rs 433) and MTNL (up a rupee to Rs 111) ended with gains.
Infosys, after a firm opening, displayed steady trends till mid-noon deals, but flared up on renewed buying support towards the end to close 2% higher (Rs 106) at Rs 4,733. While Satyam added 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 323, Wipro ended off-highs with a gain of Rs 4 at Rs 1,449.
Tata Motors notched up significant gains on fresh buying support towards the closing bell, and spurted nearly 4% (Rs 15) to Rs 409. Hero Honda recovered from lower levels, and ended up a per cent (Rs 6) at Rs 379. Bajaj gained ground towards the closing hours, and was up Rs 3 at Rs 932.
Cipla shot up 3% (Rs 30) to Rs 1,132. While Ranbaxy moved up 2% (Rs 23) to Rs 1,008, Dr. Reddy's, after a mixed outing, closed marginally up Rs 3 at Rs 1,244.
Grasim and L&T advanced 2% each to Rs 876 (up Rs 20) and Rs 382 (up Rs 7), respectively. Gujarat Ambuja and ACC, however, slipped from higher levels to close down a tad each at Rs 266 and Rs 220, respectively.
ICICI Bank at Rs 240 (up Rs 4 or 2%), Tata Power at Rs 267 (up Rs 6 or 2%) and Tisco at Rs 352 (up Rs 4) ended at higher levels. Over 32.37 lakh Tisco shares were traded on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 113 crore. Zee, however, dropped 3% (Rs 4) to Rs 121.
HCL Infosys shot up 8% (Rs 27) to Rs 375. Digital, on the back of a volume of over 18.63 lakh on the BSE, notched up 7% gains (Rs 42) to Rs 660. Polaris moved up 2% (Rs 3) to Rs 167 with a volume of over 12.18 lakh registered on the BSE. Visual Soft rose 5% (Rs 10) to Rs 227. The counter clocked a volume of over 9.50 lakh on the BSE with a turnover of Rs 21 crore. Mphasis at Rs 543 (up Rs 20 or 4%), Hughes at Rs 479 (up Rs 10 or 2%) and Mastek at Rs 240 (up Rs 8 or 3%) also ended with gains.
Balji Telefilms and Mukta Arts clocked 4% gains each to Rs 76 (up Rs 3) and Rs 64 (up Rs 3), respectively. While Saregama gained 3% to Rs 53, Sri Adhikari was up 2% at Rs 68. Padmalaya Telefilms closed up a per cent at Rs 82.
IOC advanced 5% (Rs 18) to Rs 365. BPCL gained 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 352. IBP, however, slumped 5% (Rs 43) to Rs 760.
Select stocks rallied sharply on relentless buying support. STC spurted 12% (Rs 16) to Rs 151. While GE Shipping jumped 10% (Rs 13) to Rs 142, SCI rose 9% (Rs 13) to Rs 164. Sterlite raked in 8% gains (Rs 117) to Rs 1,479.