The Sensex opened with a huge negative gap of 550 points at 12,713, owing to weak cues from the global markets, and soon slipped to a low of 12,558.
Buying emerged at lower levels as index took support around the July low of 12,500. Banking and oil & gas stocks led the recovery. As buying gained momentum, the index rebounded into the positive zone in tandem with other global markets.
The Sensex touched a high of 13,347, and finally ended with a gain of 53 points at 13,316.
The BSE Bankex rallied 2.7% (177 points) to 6,770, and the Oil & Gas index surged 2.3% (207 points) to 8,973.
The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,690 stocks traded, 1,941 declined, 679 advanced and 70 were unchanged.
INDEX MOVERS. . .
Sterlite surged 3.5% to Rs 455. HDFC Bank, Reliance and NTPC rallied over 3% each to Rs 1,222, Rs 1,933 and Rs 174, respectively.
ICICI Bank and Maruti gained 2.7% each at Rs 576 and Rs 718, respectively.
Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Infrastructure added 2.5% each to Rs 551 and Rs 850, respectively.
SBI and ONGC advanced over 2% each to Rs 1,561 and Rs 999, respectively.
ACC and Larsen & Toubro were up 1.5% each at Rs 601 and Rs 2,539, respectively.
. . .AND THE SHAKERS
Ranbaxy slumped 10% to Rs 341. Jaiprakash Associates plunged 6.7% to Rs 127.
Satyam tumbled over 4% to Rs 335. Infosys and Tata Steel dropped 3.3% each to Rs 1,524 and Rs 459, respectively.
DLF shed 3% at Rs 396. Tata Power slipped over 2% to Rs 949.
HDFC slipped over 1.5% to Rs 2,131. Bharti Airtel and TCS were down over 1% each at Rs 760 and Rs 720, respectively.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 452.40 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 442.25 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 391.40 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 254 crore) and HDFC (Rs 222.30 crore).
Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of nearly two crore shares followed by S.Kumars (1.34 crore), IFCI (1.34 crore), K S Oils (1.21 crore) and Jaiprakash Associates (1.10 crore).