Markets gain for the 3rd straight day

The Indian bourses continued their winning run for the third straight day. The Sensex opened on a firm note at 17,556 tracking strong global cues.

The US markets closed in green on the first trading day of 2010 ,on the back of a spate of deals, soaring commodities and strong manufacturing data.The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.5% at 10,584 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.7%.

The BSE benchmark index exhibited strong movement for most part of the trading day. The index touched a high of 17,730, and finally ended firm at 17,686, up 127 points. The index gained 2% or 342 points in the last three days. The NSE Nifty closed at 5,278, up 48 points.

The Asian markets also settled on a firm note .The Hang Seng added 2% and the Jakarta Composite Index was up 1.16%.

The market breadth was fairly positive, out of 2,962 shares traded, 1,768 advanced and 1,119 declined on the BSE.

INDEX MOVERS...

Hindalco zoomed 7% to Rs 175. Jaiprakash Associates advanced 6% to Rs 163 and Sterlite Industries added 4.5% at Rs 915, respectively.

Reliance Communications, Grasim Industries, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Tata Steel were up 2-3% each.

...AND THE SHAKERS

Maruti was the major loser on the Sensex, down 2% at Rs 1,515 and Tata Motors shed 2% to Rs 810.

ACC, NTPC and Reliance Industries were the other losers on the index.