Markets Up by About 6% At Close

Stocks cutting across sectors had one of their brightest outings in recent months as the bulls who thronged the major Indian bourses right at the stroke of the opening bell had their way till the very end of the session today.

A sharp upward revision in offer price for Bear Stearns buoyed up Wall Street yesterday and set the ball rolling in favour of the bulls today. Buying remained so strong and sustained that the market was moving in just one direction, up north, today. The sentiment was so upbeat that mid and smallcap stocks, which had taken a severe hammering in recent sessions, were also seen attracting strong buying enquiries.

While the Sensex, which opened with a positive gap of nearly 325 points at 15,612.61 and zoomed to a high of 16,262.38 in intra-day trades, ended at 16,217.49 with a thumping gain of 928.09 points or 6.07%, the Nifty recorded a whopping gain of 267.65 points or 5.81% as it settled at 4877.50. In intra-day trades today, the Nifty hit a high of 4896.80. It is the BSE barometer's second biggest single session gain ever. The biggest single day gain of 1139.92 points was recorded on January 25, 2008.

A fair amount of short-covering in the derivatives segment also contributed to the market's sharp upmove today. Thanks to widespread buying, all the sectoral indices ended with impressive gains. The Realty index which gained the most, went up by 9.48%. The Bankex and Consumer Durables indices gained more than 8%. The IT flared up by 7.73%. The Power, Metal, Teck, Oil & Gas, PSU, Capital Goods and Auto indices advanced by 4% - 6.5% while the Healthcare and FMCG indices firmed up by 2.36% and 2.14% respectively. The BSE Midcap spurted 6.36% while the Smallcap index posted a gain of 4.81%.

The market breadth remained pretty strong. Out of a total of 2762 stocks traded on BSE, 2074 stocks ended with gains. 641 stocks posted losses and 47 stocks ended at their previous closing levels. None of the Sensex components strayed into the red today. Sun Pharmaceuticals, the lone loser among Nifty stocks, ended lower by 2.15% at Rs 1252.80.

Jaiprakash Associates, the biggest gainer in the Sensex, shot up by 16.4%. DLF vaulted 13.5%. Reliance Energy powered its way up by nearly 13%. IT bellwether Infosys Technologies (9.65%), ICICI Bank (9.4%), Wipro (9.05%), HDFC (8.65%), BHEL (7.55%), ONGC (7.25%), Tata Steel (7%), Tata Consultancy Services (6.4%), Hindalco (6.05%) and HDFC Bank (6.05%) ended with hefty gains. Reliance Communications, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, Satyam Computer Services, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and Larsen & Toubro gained 4% - 6%. ACC, Grasim Industries, Cipla, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Tata Motors moved up by 1% - 3%. Ambuja Cements and ITC missed out on the rally and settled marginally higher than their previous closing levels.

Unitech recorded a big gain of 10.25%. SAIL moved up by 7.2%. Cairn India, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Punjab National Bank, Reliance Petroleum, Hero Honda, ABB, Siemens, HCL Technologies, GAIL India, Power Grid, Idea Cellular, Zee Entertainment and Sterlite Industries notched up 3% - 7%. Nalco, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Suzlon Energy and BPCL also finished on a high note. Reliance Capital jumped by 17.25% to Rs 1324.25 on strong volumes. Reliance Natural Resources (6.65%) and Essar Oil (12.9%) also attracted strong buying enquiries today.

Source: Sify

Sensex Ends 295 Points Up

A few frontline stocks moved in a highly listless manner in afternoon trade and a few stocks even declined sharply on selling pressure. But the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty, which had opened on a rousing note this morning, bounced back strongly from their lower levels and ended the session with impressive gains today.

While the Sensex which opened with a positive gap of nearly 100 points and swung in a range of nearly 350 points - it hit a high of 15,351.31 and a low of 15,056.09 today - ended with a gain of 294.57 points or 1.96% at 15,289.40, the Nifty settled with a gain of 0.78% or 35.90 points at 4609.85. In intra-day trades, the Nifty touched a high of 4649.45 and a low of 4539.80.

A smart recovery in global markets triggered some strong buying in blue chip stocks this morning. Though key stocks from banking, information technology and FMCG sectors held firm, realty, metal, power and capital goods stocks drifted lower on selling pressure. Select capital goods stocks, however, managed to bounce back in late afternoon trade. Automobile stocks had a mixed run. Oil stocks remained highly subdued and not much buying took place in pharma sector as well. Mid and smallcap stocks were hammered almost right through the session. Mirroring the sell-off in these segments today, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices tumbled by 2.66% and 3.77% respectively. The market breadth was weak right through the session. Out of 2717 stocks traded on BSE today, as many as 2149 stocks ended with losses. 534 stocks posted gains and 34 stocks ended at their previous closing levels.

Housing finance stock HDFC turned in a sparkling display and posted a handsome gain of 7.75%. Wipro shot up by nearly 6%. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India, the banking sector heavyweights, ended stronger by 5.35%, 5% and 2.7% respectively. Hindustan Unilever notched up a gain of 4.35%. ACC firmed up by 3.8%. Larsen & Toubro (3.5%) and Bharti Airtel (2.95%) also finished with strong gains. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries, which remained subdued for a better part of the session, rallied smartly during the closing minutes to post a sharp gain of 1.95%.

Tata Steel went down by over 7% today. Reliance Energy closed with a loss of 4.6%. DLF lost 4%. Jaiprakash Associates and Maruti Suzuki eased by 1.8% and 1.3% respectively. Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 0.85%) and Hindalco (down 0.7%) also closed weak. NTPC and Cipla ended flat.

HCL Technologies (up 7.55% to Rs 274.05) was the biggest gainer in the Nifty today. Nalco flared up by 6.65%. Punjab National Bank gained a little over 5%. Tata Power, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, BPCL and Idea Cellular gained 3.5% - 4.5%. Sun Pharmaceutical, Tata Communications and Power Grid also closed with impressive gains.

Cairn India declined by 9.35% to Rs 202.60. SAIL (down 5.8%), Unitech (down 5.35%), Sterlite Industries (down 4.25%) and Suzlon Energy (down 2.2%) also ended with sharp losses. Gujarat NRE Coke lost 16.95% due to heavy selling at the counter. Brigade Enterprises eased by over 16%. Aban Offshore lost 16%. JSW Steel, India Bulls, Bajaj Hindustan, Essar Shipping, Areva, HMT, Parsvnath Developers and Deccan Aviation lost 9% - 12%. Bajaj Holdings, Moser Baer, Welspun Gujarat, Rajesh Exports, Akruti City, Triveni Engineering, Ispat Industries and Videocon Industries also finished with sharp losses today.

Source: Sify