The Sensex on BSE finished Monday 38.50 points higher, or 0.25%, to 15,311.22.

Intra-day high and low

The benchmark index opened 22 points higher at 15,295, and soon touched record high of 15,341. Then, profit-taking at higher levels weighed the index down to a low of 15,239, down 102 points from the peak.

The market-breadth was positive as out of 2,753 stocks traded on BSE, 1,485 advanced, 1,210 declined and 58 were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 12 advanced, while the rest declined.

The turnover on BSE was Rs 5,270 crore, compared with Rs 6,752 crore on Friday. On NSE, turnover was Rs 11,519 crore, lower than Rs 14,883 crore on Friday.

Economic news

The biggest builder of dams in India, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd engaged Barclays Capital to sell $400 million of convertible bonds to boost cement production. Jaiprakash will also use proceeds from the debt sale to build a new thermal power plant and for capital expenditure.

The rupee kept rising against the dollar and passed 40.40 during morning trading, boosted by exporters and banks selling dollars as well as by the weakness of the dollar in the overseas markets.

Trading highlights

GMR Infrastructure was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 248 crore followed by Reliance Communications and Indiabulls Real Estate.

Advancers of the Day

Reliance Energy rallied 4.5% to Rs 706. Reliance Energy is planning to secure at least two ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW each worth nearly Rs 40,000 crore. Other strong gainers were State Bank of India which advanced 3.8% to Rs 1,614 and Bajaj Auto which gained 3.7% to Rs 2,255.

SBI Mutual Fund, accumulated Rs 2,536 crore from Infrastructure Fund Series-I, which closed for subscription in June 2007.

Reliance Communications rallied 3.5% to Rs 574. There are reports that it had signed an agreement to acquire Yipes, telecom company based in the U.S., for $300 million. Hindalco surged 3.5% to Rs 180. ONGC moved up 1.6% to Rs 915, and Grasim added 1% to Rs 2,900.

ACC surged 2% to Rs 1,118, leading cement producers higher on speculation they will post strong earnings as prices of the building material climbed. Ambuja Cements rallied 3.4% to Rs 133.

Index heavy Reliance Industries advanced around 0.5% to Rs 1,777.

Decliners of the Day

Wipro and Satyam led the decliners. Both companies were around 2.3% lower. Wipro finished at Rs 501, while Satyam dipped to Rs 482. Trading in IT large-caps was subdued throughout the day. TCS was down 0.8% to Rs 1,128 and Infosys lost 0.3% to Rs 1,934.

Ranbaxy slipped over 2% Rs 346. Other pharmaceutical industry stocks also declined weighed down by the strength in rupee. Cipla lost 1.3% to Rs 209 and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories declined 0.9% to Rs 662.

Hindustan Unilever shed 2.2% to Rs 185. BHEL and NTPC lost 1.5% each to Rs 1,659 and Rs 155, respectively.