Thanks to continued buying interest in heavyweight stocks including Reliance Industries (up 3%), ONGC (up 4.1%) and Tata Steel (up 4.35%), the Sensex has break off its lower levels this morning.

BHEL (1.6%), Hindalco (2.1%), Mahindra & Mahindra (0.85%), ACC (0.6%) and Reliance Energy (0.55%) have also recorded superior gains.

SBI, Bajaj Auto, Grasim Industries and Tata Motors were trading around their last closing levels.

The Sensex that bounced elegantly hit a new peak at 18,844.62 but has eased to 18,805.21 now owing to resistance at upper level. At its existing spot, the barometer was down with a tiny loss of 8.86 points. The Nifty that was down with a spiky loss of about 58 points at 5466.60 at one stage was up with a small gain of 1.30 points at 5526.15.

IT heavyweight Infosys Technologies remained down with a loss of 1.8% at Rs 1940. Wipro had rejected 2.5% at Rs 475.75. Satyam Computer Services and Tata Consultancy Services vanished 1.85% and 1.75% at Rs 439.60 and Rs 1053 respectively.

Among non-Sensex IT stocks, i-Flex Solutions, MphasiS and Tech Mahindra have declined sharply. Financial Technologies has gained 1.85%. Rolta India has notched up 6.5%. Patni Computers and Moser Baer have posted modest gains. Mastek zoomed to a high of Rs 419 and despite having eased to Rs 390.90 now, is up with a hefty gain of 21.5%.

Bharti Airtel, Ambuja Cements, Cipla, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC, ITC, ICICI Bank, NTPC and Ranbaxy Laboratories remained down with sharp losses. Cipla and Larsen & Toubro were also recorded minor losses.

Besides sector heavyweights Tata Steel and Hindalco, some other metal stocks comprising Bhushan Steel, Jindal Stainless, JSW Steel, Sesa Goa, Shree Precoated Steels, SAIL, Sterlite Industries, Welspun Gujarat and Jindal Steel have also posted handsome gains this morning.