Backed by strong FY07 guidance and 1:1 bonus issue from Infosys, the Sensex opened with a huge positive gap of 87 points at 11,324. Metal stocks, backed by the news of price hikes by aluminium majors Hindalco and National Aluminium, added fuel to the rally.
The final thrust came from cement stocks after Gujarat Ambuja reported solid Q3 numbers. Eventually, all-round buying in the market saw the Sensex zoom to a high of 11,561.
The index finally settled with a huge gain of 2.7% (302 points) at 11,540, erasing almost 86% of last week's loss of 352pts.
The BSE IT Index zoomed 6% to 4129. The Metal Index surged 4.4% to 9818, and the Consumer Durable Index added 2.8% to 3271. The Auto Index and Bankex were up 2% each at 5339 and 5207, respectively.
Advances beat declines 2:1 - out of 2,567 stocks traded, 1,659 advanced, 852 declined and 56 were unchanged today.
INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS
Satyam soared over 7% to Rs 828 on hopes of a liberal bonus issue. Satyam's board is scheduled to meet on April 21 to announce its FY06 earnings and consider a bonus issue.
Infosys surged 7% to Rs 3,230, and TCS rallied 6% to Rs 1,904. Wipro moved up nearly 5% to Rs 541.
Impressive Q3 numbers by Gujarat Ambuja saw the stock zoom to a high of Rs 119 before ending with a gain of 8.3% at Rs 118. Grasim surged over 7% to Rs 2,243, and ACC added 4.6% to Rs 938.
Tata Steel spurted over 5% to Rs 595. Hindalco advanced 4% to Rs 200.
Tata Power rallied 3.5% to Rs 592. Reliance Energy was up 3% at Rs 619.
Hero Honda zoomed 3% to Rs 849. Tata Motors advanced 2.2% to Rs 929, and Maruti added 1.4% to Rs 882.
Ranbaxy gained 3.3% at Rs 465. ICICI Bank was up 2.7% at Rs 580. Larsen & Toubro and SBI moved up over 1.5% each to Rs 2,539 and Rs 932, respectively.
While ITC advanced 2% to Rs 193, HLL moved up 1.3% to Rs 257.
OTHER GAINERS & LOSERS
BSEL Infrastructure soared 19% to Rs 50.40. Sterlite Optical surged nearly 18% to Rs 160. Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Kewal Kiran, Greaves Cotton, Coral Labs, Jagatji Industries, Sona Koya, Pratibha, NIIT Tech, Aksh Optifibre, Mahindra Gesco, Eicher Motors, Birla Corporation, India Cement, Balaji Tele, National Aluminium, Lupin, CMC and HCL Technologies ended with gains of 8-14% each.
Shivalik Global slumped 11% to Rs 52. Sundaram Clayton, Mawana Sugar, Bhartiya International, Nahar Spinning, Sasken, Financial Technology, Provogue, McDowell, Kalpatru Power, Thermax, Container Corporation, Bombay Dyeing and Torrent Pharma were the other major gainers today.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS
Infosys topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 207.22 crore followed by Satyam (Rs 167.51 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 123.39 crore), SBI (Rs 116.76 crore) and Hindustan Zinc (Rs 115.66 crore).
Essar Oil led the volume chart with trades of around 1.75 crore shares followed by Himachal Futuristic (61.83 lakh), Gujarat Ambuja (52.17 lakh), Sterlite Optical (49.50 lakh) and Reliance Natural Resources (48.63 lakh).
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