The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 18 points at 3,639, and remained firm throughout the session, thanks to increased guidance for the full fiscal by Infosys.

Though morning and early afternoon deals saw most of the stocks trade in a narrow range, the index continued to gain ground on buying support in tech stocks. Late afternoon deals saw buying emerge in select cement, auto, PSUs and heavyweights, which saw the index touch the day's high of 3,684. The Sensex finally finished with a gain of 59 points at 3,680. The Nifty advanced 22 points to 1,163.

While 20 Sensex stocks advanced, 10 declined today. The traded volume and value of the index scrips were higher at 1.97 crore and Rs 746.67 crore, respectively.

Tech pivotals ended with sharp gains. Infosys closed 11% (Rs 359) higher at Rs 3,615 after touching the day's high of Rs 3,694. More than eight lakh shares changed hands on the BSE today with a turnover of Rs 317 crore. The tech major reported a 28% increase in net at Rs 278.12 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 when compared with Rs 216.85 crore in Q1FY03. The company also increased its full-year EPS guidance, which provided the trigger for buying today.

Satyam and HCL Tech closed with a robust gain of 10% each at Rs 207 (up Rs 19) and Rs 170 (up Rs 15), respectively.

Heavyweights were divergent today. ITC slipped on selling pressure to close with a loss of a per cent (Rs 5) to Rs 764. HLL ended marginally lower at Rs 170. Reliance, however, bucked the downtrend and moved up 2% (Rs 8) to Rs 334.

PSU frontliners displayed positive trends. SBI gained ground towards the fag-end and rose 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 388. HPCL added Rs 5 to Rs 353. BHEL and MTNL were up a rupee each at Rs 280 and Rs 114, respectively.

Cement majors also ended with gains. ACC advanced 5% (Rs 8) to Rs 174. Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja, after trading on a mixed note throughout the trading session, finished with gains at Rs 501 (up Rs 5) and Rs 199 (up Rs 2), respectively. L&T, which gained around 3% yesterday, slipped on profit-taking to close with a loss of 2% (Rs 4) at Rs 266.

Pharma stocks displayed mixed trends. Cipla was marginally (Rs 2) higher at Rs 808. Ranbaxy, too, closed up a notch at Rs 832. Dr. Reddy's, however, ended 3% lower (Rs 32) to Rs 1,113. Glaxo lost 2% (Rs 9) to Rs 362.

Auto majors largely finished at higher levels. Telco attracted a lot of buying interest, and flared up 3% (Rs 6) to Rs 215. Hero Honda gained Rs 4 to Rs 257. Bajaj, which ended with gains yesterday, slipped on profit-booking, and dropped 4% (Rs 25) to Rs 545.

The Infosys effect saw tech stocks log sharp gains. i-flex vaulted 21% (Rs 230) to Rs 1,334. Wipro crossed the Rs 1,000 mark and closed with a gain of 10% (Rs 88) at Rs 1,005. Digital logged 15% gains (Rs 62) to Rs 485, Mastek rose 16% (Rs 44) to Rs 323, CMC jumped 13% (Rs 56) to Rs 491 and Geometric Software added 12% (Rs 47) to Rs 429. Hughes was up 10% (Rs 24) at Rs 262. Mphasis BFL, which posted a net profit of Rs 22 crore in Q1FY03, surged 6% (Rs 20) to Rs 365.

Aztec Software was locked at the 20% upper limit of Rs 24 (up Rs 4) after the company reported a net profit of Rs 53 lakh for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 as against a loss of Rs 4.41 crore in Q1FY03.

Visual Software, too, was frozen at its 20% upper limit at Rs 159 - a gain of Rs 26.

BoB dropped 4% (Rs 6) to Rs 131, and Oriental Bank lost 3% (Rs 6) to Rs 163 on selling pressure. BoI was down a per cent at Rs 49. PNB, however, mopped up 4% gains (Rs 6) to close at Rs 155. Kotak Bank was up a per cent (Rs 2) at Rs 160.

Maruti Udyog, which made its debut yesterday, gained 2% (Rs 3) to Rs 167. More than 65 lakh shares were traded on BSE today with a turnover of Rs 59 crore.