The index touched a low of 16,547 - down 190 points from the previous close. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 124 points at 16,861.

The breadth was negative. Out of 2,747 stocks traded today - 1,768 declined, 926 advanced and the rest were unchanged. The NSE Nifty closed 30 points higher at 5,013.

INDEX MOVERS...
Ranbaxy [Get Quote] was the big gainer; it was up 5.3% to Rs 494. Satyam [Get Quote] gained 3.4% to Rs 490. ITC was up 2.5% to Rs 224, while HDFC [Get Quote] and Reliance Communications [Get Quote] gained 2% each to Rs 2,699 and Rs 550 respectively.

Reliance Energy [Get Quote] gained 1.9% to Rs 1,357, Bhel was up 1.4% to Rs 1,748 and Wipro [Get Quote] advanced 1.3% to Rs 508. Infosys [Get Quote], HDFC Bank, Ambuja Cements, Cipla, TCS [Get Quote] and Reliance Industries [Get Quote] gained over 1% each.

Other gainers included Hindalco [Get Quote], Maruti [Get Quote], ICICI Bank [Get Quote] and NTPC.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Grasim [Get Quote] was the big loser, down 3.6% to Rs 2,256. Jaiprakash Associates [Get Quote] declined nearly 2% to Rs 246, while ACC was down 1.45% TO Rs 702.

DLF and Hindustan Unilever lost over 1.3% to Rs 622 and Rs 242 respectively. SBI [Get Quote], M&M, Bharti, Tata Steel [Get Quote], Tata Motors [Get Quote] and L&T lost under 1% each.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Reliance Petroleum [Get Quote] led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 316.97 crore followed by Cairn India [Get Quote] (Rs 260.68 crore), Reliance Capital [Get Quote] (Rs 258.47 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 214.02 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources [Get Quote] (Rs 182.1 crore).

Reliance Petroleum  also topped the volume chart with trades of around 1.79 crore shares followed by Reliance Natural Resources (1.75 crore), IFCI (1.34 crore), Cairn (89.5 lakh) and Essar Oil [Get Quote] (63.77 lakh).