Sensex ends with marginal gain of 12.98 pts

Mumbai, May 21: The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty recovered from their early lows to close almost flat after a rangebound trading session.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex ended the session with a marginal gain of 12.98 points at 17243.16 from its previous close of 17230.18. It touched a day's high of 17293.34 in late trade, and recovered over 250 points from its day's low of 17041.63, hit in the early trade. Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 12.70 points up at 5117.65 from its previous close of 5104.95. The market came off the lower level from an initial fall on fresh buyings in select pivotals. Oil&gas and metal stocks were in good demand in the second half of the session following the recovery in Asian markets and firm European markets, brokers said.

The market breadth was positive on BSE as 1,710 shares advanced, compared to 1,009 that declined, while 76 remained unchanged. Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 16 declined while the rest gained.

The BSE Midcap index rose 41.99 points or 0.59 per cent to 7148.05, while Smallcap index gained 130.37 points or 1.51 per cent to 8788.98.

The turnover at BSE was quoted at Rs 7077 crore as compared to Rs 5940.08 crore in the previous session. The NSE's futures&options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 39481.17 crore which was higher than Rs 33290.93 crore, a day before.

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 2.53 per cent to Rs 2667.90. Reportedly, the government has confiscated the company's five blocks in the Kerala-Konkan (KK) basin after it failed to meet the minimum work programme.

National Aluminium Company gained 4.62 per cent to Rs 538, Tata Steel was up 3.09 per cent to Rs 922.25, Sterlite Industries ended marginally up at Rs 945.10, while Hindalco Industries and Steel Authority of India ended marginally lower.

Private sector largest lender ICICI Bank declined 1.77 per cent to Rs 911.25. HDFC Bank declined 3.46 per cent to Rs 1413.90. The Reserve Bank of India has approved the scheme of amalgamation of Centurion Bank of Punjab with HDFC Bank. The Scheme of Amalgamation will come into effect from May 23.

State Bank of India (SBI) rose 0.37 per cent to Rs 1661.55, after it announced to resume tractor and farm equipment loans with immediate effect, having earlier suspended new loans because of rising defaults.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel declined 0.74 per cent to Rs 822.65. As per reports, Bharti Airtel has forged an exclusive alliance with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) that will enable it to access 18,000 retail outlets and 5,500 Indane cooking gas distributors of the oil giant. Under the deal, Airtel can use IOC outlets to sell its products, collect bills, set up PCO facilities and even open Bharti retail outlets on an exclusive basis.

UNI