The Sensex finally ended (provisional) at 18,216, up 227 points, and the NSE Nifty gained 67 points at 5481.
___________________________________________________
(Updated at 1440 hrs)
With a positive opening this morning, the bourses kept up the momentum, and traded firm through the day until late afternoon, shrugging off Asian power-house Nikkei's near-2% drop in value today.
In the late afternoon session, the Sensex scaled up 179 points to 18,168, while the Nifty advanced 52 points to 5,466. The Sensex, which dipped briefly soon after its opening to its intra-day low of 17,950, recouped its losses soon after, and was seen trading in a positive belt ever since. A little after noon, the BSE benchmark touched its intra-day high of 18,194.
Pulling the Sensex higher were Cipla at Rs 301 and ICICI Bank at Rs 1,033, both up 3%, followed by Jaiprakash Associates at Rs 87 up 2%. ICICI Bank, alone, accounted for a gain of 43 points on the Sensex.
Conversely, auto stocks Mahindra & Mahindra at Rs 644 and Bajaj Auto at Rs 1,352, both down 1%, led the Sensex losers chart, while IT stock TCS saw a decline of 0.6% at Rs 1,063.
Underperforming the Sensex, the Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were quoting at 6,593 and 7,861, up 0.8% and 0.6% respectively. Media house Deccan Chronicle was the highest gainer in the mid-cap space at Rs 78 up 15%, followed by Glodyne Technologies at Rs 431 and Hindustan Oil at Rs 195 both up 11%.
On the small-cap chart, Dion Global Soultions was the top gainer at Rs 54, touching its upper circuit at 20%, while Rollatainers at Rs 250 and Zee Learning at Rs 23 were both up 14%.
Banking stocks were in the limelight today, as investors stocked up financials after the Banking Amendment Bill was tabled in the Parliament yesterday, post-market hours. If approved, the move, seen as a major banking sector reform, would require the removal of a 10% cap on voting rights for shareholders in private banks, and equip the RBI with more regulatory authority.
Also, the Bill would also empower nationalised banks to tap the capital markets for raising funds for business expansion, and developing newer businesses. Bank merger and acquisiton activity will be freed from the red-tape associated with the Competition Commission of India, and will be monitored by the RBI instead. The Bankex was up 1.5% at 12,422, and top gainers in this sector were IndusInd Bank at Rs 245 up 4%, Sensex heavyweight ICICI Bank at Rs 1,035 and Federal Bank at Rs 382 both up 3%.
Realty stocks also gained on the back of the tabling of the Banking Amendment Bill. The Realty index was up 1% at 2,107. Major gainers in this space were Indiabulls Real Estate at Rs 113 up 4%, Godrej Properties at Rs 636 up 3% and Sobha Developers at Rs 265 up 2%.
After the Delhi government announced last evening it would be levying an extra 25% tax on diesel-run vehicles, auto stocks were dumped because of concerns auto makers may have hike prices, which may, in turn, affect sales numbers. Also, rising input costs and interest rates, along with rising fuel prices, did not bode well for the auto sector today.
The index, although flat, was in the negative at 8,587. Losing stocks in this space were Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and Cummins India at Rs 644.
With 1,634 advancing stocks, and 1,178 declining stocks, the market breadth remained very positive.