Markets continue to witness substantial buying demand with the Sensex and the Nifty gaining by almost 1% each. Strong cues from Asia followed by buying amongst index heavyweights and Metal, Banks, Oil & Gas and IT sectors have also supported the rally.
By 1035, the 30-share Sensex was at 16,588 up 133 points or 0.8% and the 50-share Nifty was at 5,030 up 34 points or 0.7%. The Sensex and the Nifty reached an intra-day high of 16,621 levels and 5,043 mark, respectively.
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Updated at 9:50 AM
Markets have maintained the upmove and have opened higher for the second day in a row on the back of positive global cues. At 9:50 am, the Sensex was up 92 points at 16,546 and the nifty gained 20 points at 5,017.
Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened against the dollar on Thursday, heading early to a fourth consecutive day of gains, on the back of sharply higher Asian equities, while the euro held above two-year lows.
Overnight, the US stocks jumped, giving the S&P 500 its best day since December, as talk of a rescue of Spain's troubled banks and hopes for more monetary stimulus sparked a rebound. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rallied over 2% each.
Asian markets were also trading higher. The Nikkei was up 1.2% at 8,634, Hang Seng advanced 1.3% to 18,768 and the Taiwan Weighted was also trading higher, up 0.3% at 7,030 levels.
Back home, all the sectoral indices are trading in red zone. BSE Metal index has surged by over 1.5% followed by counters like Banks, Power, Consumer Durable, Capital Goods, PSU, IT, Healthcare, Oil & gas and Realty, all gaining by nearly 1% each.
Metal shares like Sterlite, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Coal India and JSPL have surged between 1-2%.
Banking shares have extended yesterday’s gain on hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank in the upcoming policy review which is scheduled to be announced on June 18, 2012. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI have gained between 1-2%.
Index heavyweights Infosys and RIL have risen between 1-2%. RIL will react to the statements coming from annual general meeting today.
Shares of FMCG companies have extended the rally on hopes of good rainfall this year will help increase farm output, which will help increase income, thereby boosting sales. The prominent gainers from the space were ITC and Hindustan Unilever are up 1% each.
Other notable gainers include Tata Power, Hero Moto, Wipro, Sun Pharma, BHEL, DLF and Cipla.
Meanwhile, BSE Midcap index has gained by 0.7% whereas BSE Smallcap index is up 0.6%.
Among others shares, Navin Fluronie International has tanked 19% to Rs 337 on turning ex-dividend today. The stock opened at Rs 350 and hit a high of Rs 364 in opening deals on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Rallis India has surged 7% to Rs 133 in opening trades after the billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bought 952,000 shares of the company worth of around Rs 12 crore through open market transaction.
The market breadth in BSE remains healthy with 1019 shares advancing and 423 shares declining.