Indian shares ended at their 6-week closing highs on Thursday on firm global cues following the initiative by the International Monetary Fund to help countries impacted by the Euro debt crisis.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 182 points at 16,633 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 59 points at 5,015.
On December 7, 2011, the Sensex had ended at 16,877 and the Nifty at 5,063.
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(Updated at 14:39hrs)
Markets continue the positive run in the late noon deals and have extended gains on the back of buying visible in the rate sensitives, metal and power stocks. The Sensex is at 16,639, up 188 points and the S&P CNX Nifty is up 58 points at 5,014 levels.
Buying is visible across the board barring a few sectors. Banking, realty, metal and power stocks are amongst the top performers on the sectoral front. At the same time, technology and FMCG stocks are facing a mild selling pressure.
BSE Realty index has jumped nearly 3% or 47 points to 1,685 levels. DLF is the top gainer from this space, up 4% to Rs 209 on reports that the India’s largest real estate firm is planning to sell a convention centre project in Delhi and its wind power business for about Rs 1,800 crore early next fiscal. HDIL, Parsvnath Developers, D B Realty, Sobha Developers, Godrej Properties and Anant Raj Industries are also trading higher by 1.2-7% each.
Metals stocks are also on the buyers radar. The BSE Metal index has jumped 2% to 11,157 levels. Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, Coal India, Tata Steel, Hindustan Zinc, JSW Steel and Jindal Steel are amongst the top gainers.
BSE Bankex has added nearly 2% to 10,543. ICICI Bank, Axis bank, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Canara Bank are among the top gainers.
Shares of power companies have also rallied on the bourses after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the promoters of private power companies that a road map would be prepared to resolve the issues in a time-bound manner. Reliance Infrstsructure, Lanco Infra, Adani Power, PTC India, Tata Power and Thermax from this sector are trading higher by 4-8.2% each.
Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Reliance Industries, HDFC and Larsen & Toubro are also trading higher by 1.5-4% each.
At the same time technology and FMCG stocks are witnessing the selling pressure. The BSE IT index is the top loser on the sectoral front, down 18 points at 5,495 levels. Infosys, Hexaware Technologies, TCS and Oracle Financial Servises Software are among the top losers.
BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Hindustan Unilever are also facing the selling pressure.
On the corporate front, HDFC Bank and Bajaj Auto have announced their third quarter results. HDFC Bank has reported 31% increase in the net profit to Rs 1,430 crore compared to Rs 1,087.83 crore during the same quarter previous year. The stock is up 1% at Rs 485.
Bajaj Auto's net profit came in at Rs 795 crore, up 19% on y-o-y basis. The stock is trading higher by 0.6% at Rs 1,464
The broader markets are also trading higher. The BSE mid-cap index is up 1.4% at 5,669 and the small-cap index is up 1% at 62,64 levels.
The overall breadth is positive as 1,699 stocks are advancing while 980 are declining.