Markets surged for the third straight day as a reaction to the just announced Union Budget last Friday. The Sensex rallied past the 17,000-mark, and touched a high of 17,012. It finally ended at 17,000 - up 227 points (1.3%), regaining the 17,000-mark after a gap of one month and one week. The last time Sensex was above 17,000, was on January 21, 2010.
In the process, the Sensex has surged 746 points in the last three days. However, the index is still down 465 points from 2009 close.
The Nifty, too displayed firm trend, and ended at 5,088 - up 71 points. The index has gained 228 points in the last three days.
Further positive news today came on the exports front. January exports grew as services and manufacturing activity jumped.
Today was the day of the 'underdogs'. The stocks which underperformed since the Budget day were shining today - namely realty and oil stocks.
The oil & gas and realty indices jumped 2% each to 9,826 and 3,317, respectively.
All other sectoral indices were also in the green. The power, FMCG and banking indexes jumped 1-2% each.
Reliance surged 4% to regain the four-digit mark after bankrupt LyondellBasell rejected the takeover bid. The stock ended at Rs 1,022.
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Gail India added 2% to Rs 400. Essar Oil was up 1% at Rs 135.
Among realty stocks Ansal Properties jumped 4% to Rs 72. Sensex stocks - Unitech and DLF were up over 2% each at Rs 76 and Rs 298, respectively. Indiabulls Real Estate, Mahindra Lifespace Developers and Sobha Developers also gained.
Jaiprakash Associates surged 6% to Rs 145. Tata Power rallied 5% to Rs 1,335 on plans to raise the mining capacity. NTPC advanced 2% to Rs 1,076.
HDFC Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank added over 1% each. Other gainers included Hindustan Unilever, HDFC, Grasim and Tata Motors.
ITC moved up 1% to Rs 245 after declaring a rise in cigarette prices.
However, ONGC slipped over 1% to Rs 1,100. Maruti Suzuki was down 1% at Rs 1,477.
The BSE market breasth was positive. Out of 2,941 stocks traded, 1,966 advanced while 891 declined.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS:
Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 145.56 crore, followed by Tata Motors (Rs 142.74 crore), Ranbaxy (Rs 97.30 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 95.42 crore) and Jet Airways (Rs 85.58 crore).
The volume chart was led by debutant ARSS Infrastructure with trades of 11.51 million shares, followed by Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision (9.91 milion), Spicejet (8.19 million) and Unitech (7.56 million).