Sensex showcases stunning session, ends 359 pts up

Major headlines

Food inflation rises to 17.05%

BF Utilities up 20% as SC removes arm’s roadblock

Oracle Financial slips as Irish client files lawsuit



Indian indices

The Indian markets continued with its previous session’s uptrend and stood buoyant in today’s trade. It was a stunning session after several days of steep fall. Aggressive value buying in the recently beaten stocks led the Sensex close above 18400 and the Nifty above 5500. Ignoring the rise in food inflation and negative European peers, the Indian markets moved northwards all throughout the day. Sharp spike in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Bharti, SBI, DLF, L&T and BHEL also supported the rally.

Among frontliners, DLF, Hindalco Industries, Tata Motors, Jaiprakash Associates, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel surged 4-6%.

In Midcap space, JSL Stainless, Polaris and National Fertilisers gained 9-13% while Shree Global, Sobha Developer, Manappuram, MindTree and Phoenix Mills fell 5-19%.

In Smallcap space, Kalyani Steels, Graviss Hospitality, Ind-Swift Labs, Marathon Nextgen and Dhanlaxmi Bank went up 9-17% whereas Titagarh Wagons, Odyssey Finance, Camlin, Bheema Cements and Kernex Micro lost 5-6%.

BF Utilities shot up 20% after the Supreme Court removed NICE project roadblock.

The Sensex began the session 23 points higher at 18114 and turned negative for brief period in initial trade to hit the day’s low of 18065. From lowest level, the Sensex soon surged and moved higher throughout the morning session. The index continued with its northward journey as the session progressed and hit the day’s high of 18466 in late trade on all-round buying.

The Sensex closed at 18449, up by 359 points and the Nifty rose 95 points, at 5527.

Bond update: India’s 11-year bonds were little changed, keeping their yield near the highest level in a week, on concern banks will rein in demand for the securities amid a cash shortage and expectations that interest rates will rise.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was in favour of advances. Out of the 2,984 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,763 gained while 1,037 declined. Whereas, 184 stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

It was all in green on the sectoral indices' front. BSE Realty surged the most for the second consecutive session, up by 3.93%. Others following were BSE Capital Goods (CG) rose by 2.51%, while BSE Metal and BSE Bankex jumped more than 2% each. Rest of the sectoral indices surged in the range of 0.18-1.71%.

Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were - National Fertilizers surged by 8.51%, DLF rose by 7.42% and Housing Development & Infrastructure up by 6.37%. Top three losers were - Cummins India slid by 3.61%, Voltas down by 3.44% and Oracle Financial Services dipped by 3.27%.

Viewing volumes

India’s second largest developer - Unitech was traded the most with over 0.68 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, India’s largest real estate developer - DLF (0.52 crore shares), industrial finance company - IFCI (0.33 crore shares), Jaypee Group company - Jaiprakash Associates (0.27 crore shares) and wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.24 crore shares).

Global signals

The European shares edged lower on Thursday as traders awaited details of the European Central Bank's two-day monetary policy meeting and its plans to fight inflation.

Except Japan’s Nikkei index, all the major Asian indices were shut today on account of Lunar New year Holiday. Nikkei ended lower by 0.25%.

The US stock index futures point to a flat opening on the Wall Street ahead of the factory orders and the Institute of Management Supply (ISM) non manufacturing index.

Market outlook: In the US, factory orders and the ISM non manufacturing index data will be announced.