FM talk boosts markets, Sensex gains 229 points

The Sensex rebounded smartly from its opening losses to end above thhe 15,000 mark for the second day in a row. Fresh buying in frontliners helped the index rebound from a low of 14,835. Positive cues from the European markets and assuring words from the FM in tackling the current drought situation boosted the market sentiment.

The Sensex rallied to a high of 15,275, and finally ended with a smart gain of 229 points at 15,241.

The Sensex touched its high of 15,275, up 440 points from day's low during final hours.

The BSE realty index surged towards the end of the day, to close at 3,856 (up 3.16%), owing to fresh buying. Among the other sectoral indices, auto and IT were the gainers during the day and helped the Sensex to recoup losses. The auto index and the IT index finally advanced 2% and 1.5% each to settle at 5,531 and 3,949, respectively.

The NSE Nifty closed at 4,575, up 75 points. The NSE index touched an intra-day high of 4,538 and a low of 4,401.

The Asian markets ended mixed today. The Nikkei declined as automakers slipped on news that the United States will end a car rebate programme soon. The Hang Seng registered its biggest weekly decline in two-months today. The index was down 129 points at 20,199 on Friday. However, the Sanghai Composite posted gains to settle at 2,960, up 49 points.

The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,771 stocks, 1,711 advanced, while 958 declined.

INDEX MOVERS. . .

Hero Honda surged over 4.5% to Rs 1,478. ICICI Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra rallied 3.5% each to Rs 746 and Rs 801, respectively.

ACC and Bharti Airtel advanced 2.5% each to Rs 776 and Rs 409, respectively.

DLF gained over 2% to Rs 382. TCS, ITC and Tata Power added 1.5% each to Rs 509, Rs 229 and Rs 1,304, respectively.

Infosys, Grasim, Reliance and Maruti Suzuki also gained 1.5% each to Rs 2,026, Rs 2,580, Rs 1,928 and Rs 1,383, respectively.

Hindustan Unilever, Wipro, HDFC, SBI, Sterlite and Reliance Infrastructure were up 1-1.5% each.

Among the Sensex-30 stocks, HDFC Bank was the sole loser -- down 1% at Rs 1,466.

Among the Nifty stocks, HCL Technologies soared 9.5% to Rs 278.

Ranbaxy and Axis Bank surged over 4% each to Rs 315 and Rs 879, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS. . .

ICICI Bank topped the combined value chart with a turnover of Rs 763.61 crore, followed by Reliance (Rs 719.78 crore), Adani Power (Rs 537.46 crore), Indiabulls Realestate (Rs 493.23 crore) and DLF (Rs 471.19 crore).

The combined volume chart was led by Adani Power with trades of over 52.93 million shares, followed by Unitech (50.07 million), IFCI (41.92 million), Suzlon (28.73 million) and Ispat Industries (25.33 million).