Buoyancy in overseas markets help Sensex rebound

Correction took a back seat today as bulls returned in the market but with a cautious view providing a healthy support to the otherwise sagging market.The market, which had slipped for last three sessions, remained firm as hectic buying action was witnessed since early trades that lasted through the session. The Sensex received a major boost from the firm US and Asian markets and resumed with a huge positive gap of 370 points at 14,512. The relentless buying in index heavyweights, banking, metal, oil and capital goods stocks propelled the index to an intra-day high of 14,680, up 538 points over its last close. However, the profit bookings amid Sensex pivotal stocks saw the index shed 273 points to touch the day's low of 14,407 towards the close. But, the buying interest thereafter kept the Sensex stable and the index finally ended the session with the gains of 286 points at 14,428. The broad based Nifty surged 101 points at 4209.

Among the sectoral indices the Metal led the upsurge with a gain of 4% at 10,204 followed by the BSE Bankex index (up 3.91% at 7,639) and the BSE PSU index (up 2.44% at 6,703). However, the BSE IT index closed in negative territory. The market breadth was positive. Of the 2,763 scrips traded on the BSE 1,925 stocks advanced, 792 stocks declined and 46 stocks ended unchanged.

Out of the 30 Sensex stocks, 25 managed to end in the green while five stocks ended with a loss. Banking major HDFC Bank was the leading gainer and soared 5.49% at Rs1,128 and ICICI Bank advanced 5.21% at Rs869. ONGC moved up by 4.54% at Rs818, Tata Steel jumped 4.50% at Rs569, Bharti Airtel shot up by 4.34% at Rs829, Ranbaxy added 3.49% at Rs365 and BHEL was up 3.31% at Rs1,610. Among the laggards Satyam Computer dropped 1.75% at Rs433, Infosys shed 1.39% at Rs1,829, Wipro declined by 1.26% at Rs470, M&M slipped 1.24% at Rs642 and TCS was marginally down at Rs1,055.

The metal stocks were the star performers. Sterlite Industries vaulted 8.64% at Rs561, Shree Precoated Steel surged 4.90% at Rs283, Sail jumped 4.11% at Rs143, Welspun Gujarat scaled up 3.71% at Rs225, Nalco spurted 3.14% at Rs256, Maharashara Seemless soared 2.82% at Rs571 and Jindal Steel was up 2.61% at Rs3,865.

Over 4.13 crore Nagarjuna Fertilisers shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Ventura Textile (2.31 crore shares), Chambal Fertilisers (98.55 lakh shares), IFCI (86.76 lakh shares) and Ispat Industries (64.68 lakh shares).

Zylog Systems registered a turnover of Rs245 crore on the BSE followed by Nagarjuna Fertilisers (Rs148 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs120 crore), Orbit Corporation (Rs88 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs66 crore)