Sensex gains 158 pts as blue chips bounce back:Sify, India

Sensex gains 158 pts as blue chips bounce back

The market shrugged off a rise in inflation, crude oil prices, weak Asian bourses and a highly negative start and closed with sharp gains today.

There were several volatile spells during the day but in the end, it was a buoyant close for the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty thanks to sustained buying in metal, bank, FMCG, oil and auto stocks in afternoon trade.

Power, pharma and information technology stocks also broke free from their lower levels and rallied higher. Capital goods, PSU and realty stocks ended well off their intra-day lows thanks to renewed buying support.

While the Sensex, which rose to a high of 14,428.52 today, ended at 14,401.49 with a gain of 157.76 points or 1.11%, the Nifty closed at 4327.45, slightly off its intra-day high of 4337, with a gain of 43.60 points or 1.02%.

Earlier, in morning trade, the Sensex and Nifty had tumbled to 14,136.86 and 4248 respectively following a weak start.

Even as several large cap stocks marched on to higher levels this afternoon, the mood remained highly subdued with regard to stocks from midcap and smallcap segments. As a result, the market breadth was weak when trade ended today.

Out of a total of 2725 stocks traded on BSE, 1212 stocks closed with gains. 1411 stocks posted losses and 102 stocks ended flat.

Sterlite Industries and Hindalco ended stronger by over 4.25%. Hindustan Unilever moved up by 3.75%. HDFC gained 3.25%. BHEL, Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure, HDFC Bank and Maruti Suzuki surged 2% - 3%.

Reliance Communications, Infosys Technologies, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Tata Motors, ACC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries advanced by 1.5% - 2%.

Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, ONGC, Jaiprakash Associates and DLF posted modest gains. State Bank of India and ICICI Bank gained marginally. Tata Consultancy Services closed flat.
SAIL, Reliance Petroleum, Nalco, Cairn India, Tata Communications and Zee Entertainment ended with sharp gains. BPCL, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Power Grid Corporation finished with sharp losses.

Satyam Computer Services ended 3.15% down. Grasim Industries and NTPC also closed with sharp losses. Wipro eased by 0.9%. Larsen & Toubro and ITC declined by 0.85% and 0.3% respectively.

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Source: BL,BS,ET,Sify.