The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 31 points at 11,620, and hit a high of 11,692 in early deals. The index soon dropped to a low of 11,535 - a decline of 157 points from the day's high.
After moving in a narrow range for most part of the session, renewed buying towards the close saw the index finally close with a gain of 73 points at 11,663.
The Nifty closed with a gain of 24 points at 3,478.
Tata Steel zoomed nearly 7% (Rs 37) to Rs 579. Tata Motors gained over 2% (Rs 23) to Rs 950.
Cement stocks rallied sharply today. Grasim zoomed 4.6% (Rs 100) to Rs 2,300. ACC advanced 3.6% (Rs 32) to Rs 910. Gujarat Ambuja moved up 3.9% (Rs 4) to Rs 112.
Infosys added Rs 21 to Rs 3,187. Satyam, which announced today that the board will meet on April 21 to consider a bonus issue, advanced over 2% (Rs 19) to Rs 836. TCS was up Rs 7 at Rs 1,896.
ONGC moved up over 1% (Rs 15) to Rs 1,293. Reliance was up Rs 2 at Rs 835.
SBI slipped 1.5% (Rs 15) to Rs 963. HLL and ITC declined a rupee each to Rs 280 and Rs 199, respectively.
BHEL was up Rs 18 at Rs 2,395. L&T gained Rs 11 to Rs 2,654. Hindalco was up Rs 5 (2.7%) at Rs 192. HDFC Bank, Ranbaxy, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, Bajaj and Cipla also finished with gains.
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