Today at the end of the trading session, bulls turned so aggressive, which remained a bit range bound for around four hours, rallied in a remarkable manner and signed off in style today. Capital goods, realty, oil, bank and power stocks sparkled.
Metal and PSU stocks, after remaining a bit subdued till around mid afternoon, sprung higher on strong buying support. IT stocks gave up some gains due to lack of support at higher levels.But pharma stocks returned a mixed bag while auto and FMCG stocks remained subdued.
The Sensex, which opened with a positive gap of over 100 points at 17,084.89 this morning, vaulted to a high of 17,366.19 in late afternoon trade and eventually settled at 17,353.54 with a thumping gain of 375.19 points or 2.21%. The Nifty ended at 5115.25, netting a big gain of 2.07% or 103.50 points for the day.
Hindalco, which hogged the limelight in late afternoon trade, ended with a handsome gain of 6.15%. Reliance Communications closed with a sharp gain of 5.35%. Larsen & Toubro turned in an impressive display and notched up a gain of 4.7%. The announcement from the company that it has sold its Ready Mix Concrete Business to Lafarge at an enterprise value of around $350 million buoyed up the stock. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries gained 3.7% and contributed significantly to the rise of the benchmark indices today. Two other heavyweights ICICI Bank (3.65%) and Infosys Technologies (3.6%) also played a key role in lifting the market.
DLF moved up by 3.4%. Maruti Suzuki surged 3.2%. Power equipment maker BHEL gained a little over 3%. Ambuja Cements, HDFC, Jaiprakash Associates, ACC and Cipla advanced by 2% – 2.5%. Reliance Energy (1.85%), Tata Consultancy Services (1.6%), Grasim Industries (1.3%), ONGC (1.25%), State Bank of India (1.2%), Wipro (1.05%), Bharti Airtel (0.95%), NTPC (0.85%), HDFC Bank (0.8%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (0.7%) also finished with smart gains.
Satyam Computer Services opened on a weak note on reports that the company may have to pay a hefty penalty in the event of a legal battle with Upaid Systems in a US Federal Court going against the company. Though the stock settled above its intra-day low, it still recorded a sharp loss of 3.4% today.
Hindustan Unilever (down 1.85%), Tata Motors (down 1.45%) and Tata Steel (down 0.5%) also closed on a weak note. ITC and Ranbaxy Laboratories ended with very small losses.
Punjab National Bank spurted 5.65% on strong quarterly numbers. Unitech, Naclo, Zee Entertainment, Idea Cellular, Tata Power, Suzlon Energy, Sterlite Industries, SAIL, Reliance Petroleum, Tata Communications, Cairn India, ABB, GAIL India and Siemens also closed on a high note.
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (down 2.95%), Hero Honda (down 1.5%) and HCL Technologies (down 1.2%) eased on selling pressure.
There were sharp gains for several stocks from midcap and smallcap segments too. Mirroring the surge in prices of stocks from this space, the Midcap and Smallcap indices ended stronger by 1.29% and 1.33% respectively. The market breadth remained pretty strong today. Out of a total of 2755 stocks traded on BSE, 1772 stocks closed on a winning note. 909 stocks declined and 74 stocks ended at their previous closing levels.
Posted by krishna Raj 
My Capital Market Weblog 