Mkts close positive, Sensex gain 51 pts

Mumbai: The markets had a fairly volatile session, after slipping in the negative terrain the markets changed their direction and moved upwards.

The Sensex closed with a gain of 51 points at 12,514. The Nifty closed at 3720 up 27 points.

The BSE Midcap closed with again of 0.42 per cent at 5985.

The BSE SmallCap was up 1.12 per cent at 7699.

The market breadth was marginally positive, about 1480 shares have advanced, 1029 shares declined, and 57 shares are unchanged.

The major gainers on the indices were ONGC, Tata Steel, Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors, M&M, Zee and Tata Tea.

The major losers on the indices were HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Tele, HLL, VSNL, Dr Reddy's and BPCL.

The BSE Auto index gained 1.7 per cent to close at 5,782.98. Stocks including TVS Motor, M&M, Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto stirred up.

The oil & gas index closed at 6,281.80 up 0.74 per cent. Stocks like ONGC, MRPL, HPCL and Petronet LNG climbed higher.

Banking stocks like Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank, PNB, UTI Bank Andhra Bank and SBI closed in green. The BSE Bankex closed up 0.8 per cent at 5,668.34

The capital goods sector gained 0.68 per cent and closed at 8,986.47. Stocks like SKF India, L&T, ABB, Aban LoydChiles and Thermax closed higher.

The consumer durables index closed at 3,661.63 up 0.59 per cent. Stocks including Whirlpool, Samtel Color and Su-Raj Diamonds closed in the positive terrain.

Scrips from metal sector and IT sector also witnessed buying at the bourses.

Metal stocks including Tata Steel, Jindal Saw, SAIL, Guj NRE Coke and Jindal Stainless closed higher.

Stocks from the FMCG sector witnessed selling at the bourses. The BSE FMCG index was the major loser down 0.77 per cent at 2,310.22. Stocks like Nestle, Shaw Wallace, McDowell, HLL and Dabur India were among the losers.

Stocks from the pharma sector also witnessed moderate selling at the bourses.

The NSE cash turnover stood at Rs 9441.7 crore and NSE F&O was Rs 35661.92 crore. The BSE cash turnover stood at Rs 5016.46 crore. The total market turnover stood at Rs 50,120.08 crore.

On the corportae front, Goetze up 20% at Rs 305.30 as Federal Moghul hikes stake to over 50 per cent.

Kamdhenu Ispat closes at Rs 51.25 vs issue price of Rs 25.

ONGC’s market cap crosses Rs 2 lakh crore at Rs 2,04,621 cr

VSNL buys Direct Internet, subsidiary Primus Telecommunications for Rs 75 crore.

Fidelity has sold 2.33 per cent stake in Indiabulls.

BSNL has asked MTNL to pay Rs 900 crore as outstanding dues for FY 06.

IOC is scouting for refineries in Africa, Europe.

RIL has entered into sugar business, the company has already acquired a closed chemical unit in Pune.