Markets end higher led by RIL

Indian stock markets reversed early losses to end at their 12-week highs on Wednesday, on the back of firm European cues, led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries, auto and metal shares.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 107 points at 17,301 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 36 points at 5,236.

On November 9, 2011 the Sensex had ended at 17,362 and the Nifty had ended at 5,289 on November 8, 2011.

The Indian markets opened lower on the back of profit booking visible in the financial and IT stocks and the Sensex touched the low of 17,061 levels in trades on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, on the macro-economic front India's exports grew by merely 6.7% to $25 billion in December 2011 compared to the same month last year due to demand slowdown in the western markets of the US and Europe. The manufacturing sector also grew at its fastest pace in eight months in January as factory output surged the most on record on increased domestic and foreign demand, a business survey showed on Wednesday.

Asian shares ended mixed while European shares remained firm with the CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 all trading over 1.2% each.

Back to markets,Jindal steel was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 6.4% to Rs 577. Tata Power also advanced 6% to Rs 110. Hindalco, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Sterlite Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors also jumped 2-4% each in trades today.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries also ended highe by nearly 2% following the commencement of its buyback offer.

However, Coal India was the top loser, down nearly 3% to Rs 317 extending its previous day’s 3% fall, on revoking a recent increase in coal prices under the Gross Calorific Value (GCV)-based system due to opposition from consumers. ICICI Bank also slipped 1.5% to Rs 888 on profit booking. ONGC, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, ITC, NTPC, Wipro, Infosys and TCS were also among the laggards.

Metal, Capital Goods and Auto indices were among the top sectoral gainers on the BSE. the BSE metal index advanced 3% or 341 points to 11,839. Capital Goods stocks bucked the weak trend of he past two trading sessions and was up 2.3% or 231 points to 10,095  levels. Auto index also jumped 2% or 187 points to 9,428 levels after the frontline automobile manufacturers posted robust sales figures in the month of January.

Power, Realty, Oil & Gas and Bankex indices also added 0.3-1.6% each.

At the same time, Consumer Durables, PSU, IT and FMCG stocks reeled under a wee bit of selling pressure in trades today.

Crompton Greaves was the top gainer from the capital goods space, up 8% to Rs 144. Punj Lloyd jumped, Suzlon Energy, Lakshmi Machine Works, Alstom Projects, SKF India and Pipavav Defence were also among the gainers from this sector.

From the consumer durable stocks, Titan Industries, TTK Prestige, Videocon, Gitanjali Gems and Blue Star were among the losers.

Shares of all three-listed aviation companies – Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet rallied more than 3% each after state-owned oil companies slashed jet fuel prices by over 3% as an appreciating rupee made imports cheaper.

IVRCL Ltd has jumped 6% at Rs 53.65 on reports that the company is in talks with a clutch of foreign investors to sell one of its road projects in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

ABG Shipyard rallied 8% to Rs 415 after the company received an order worth of Rs 500 crore for construction of vessels from the state-owned company Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).

The broader markets ended higher. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 1% or 65 points to 5,937 levels and the small-cap index advanced nearly 2% to 6,573 levels.

The overall breadth was positive as 1,868 stocks advanced while 980 stocks declined.