Markets extend gains; Sensex ends 157 points higher

Today's rally was led by positive global cues alongwith strong support from the technology stocks. The Sensex rose 157 points and the Nifty surged 50 points at the close

Major headlines

IT sector zooms as Nasscom retains export growth estimate

Coal India slips as labour union demand 100% hike in salary

RIL regains its status as India’s most-valued company



Indian indices

Markets continued its volatile trend in today’s trade and closed on a positive note. Good global cues pushed the markets higher for the second consecutive day. Buying across the board and strong gains in the technology pace aided the rally. Index heavyweights like TCS, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, L&T, RIL, BHEL, Bharti Airtel further boosted the sentiments. Investors snapped up beaten down stocks today after recent carnage.

Sensex movements: The Sensex started the trade 105 points higher at 16447 and then slipped in the negative zone. The index touched the day’s low of 16213 in the mid-morning session. The index was dull in the first half of trade. Later, a rise in the European indices boosted sentiments and lifted the Sensex to day’s high of 16549 in the afternoon session. The Sensex rose 157 points to settle at 16498 and the Nifty ended 50 points higher at 4949.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood in favour of advances. Of the 2,918 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,824 rose and 988 declined, while 106 traded unchanged.

Viewing volumes

Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy was traded the most, with over 0.33 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by a diversified business focus on Infrastructure and Urban Infrastructure projects - GVK Power & Infrastructure (0.29 crore shares), India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.25 crore shares), a real estate company - Indiabulls Real Estate (0.20 crore shares) and an infrastructure finance company - Infrastructure Development Finance Company (0.16 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the sectoral indices ended the session in the positive territory except BSE PSU fell marginally by 0.02%. The IT index was at the driver's seat today after Nasscom reiterated its estimate of the industry recording 16-18% growth in export revenue this fiscal year. BSE Information Technology (IT) surged by 3.94%, BSE TECk gained by 3.17% and BSE Capital Goods (CG) rose by 1.69%. Rest of the indices closed higher in the range of 0.05-1.48%.

In 'A' group stocks, top gainers - Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers was the biggest gainer rising by 7.81%, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose by 6.66% and Adani Power advanced by 5.98%. Top losers - SKS Microfinance declined by 4.66%, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) fell by 2.65% and Cipla lost by 2.59%.

Global indices

The European stocks surged on Tuesday with the asset class back in favour while euro-zone 'flash' PMI data surprised investors, coming in better than expected which provided an unexpected boost to the euro as well as stocks.

The Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday on bargain hunting.

The US stock index futures pointed to a strong open on the Wall Street on Tuesday.

Market Outlook: US New Home Sales data will be released on Tuesday.