The markets rebounded in the later afternoon, thanks to the Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao's comments that capital flows into India were in line with requirements and there were no fears of asset price bubbles in the near future. Capital goods, power and metals stocks powered the Sensex to recover nearly 170 points from its intra-day lows to end at 17,189, higher by 64 points, and the Nifty to close at 5,134,up 22 points.
Global markets are trading mixed; European markets are marginally in the green while the US index futures are flat.
Soaring prices of vegetables such as potatoes and onions have pushed the annual rate of inflation for food articles to 19.05 per cent for the week ended November 28 as against 17.47 per cent in the previous week.
The leading gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel (higher by Rs 10 or 3.2% at Rs 341), BHEL (stronger by Rs 57 or 2.5% at Rs 2,288) and Reliance Communication (up Rs 3 or 2.1% at Rs 185).
ICICI Bank, Jaiprakash Associates and L&T have gained between 1% and 2% each.
Sun Pharma is the top Sensex loser, having shed Rs 20 or 1.3% at Rs 1459. HDFC Bank has lost Rs 21 or 1.2% at Rs 1,783 and Hero Honda has given up Rs 19 or 1.1% to Rs 1,681.
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The market breadth was strong. Out of 2,857 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,705 advancing stocks as against 1,055 declines.
ICICI Bank topped the value charts on the BSE, clocking a turnover of Rs 124.29 crore, followed by Bharti at Rs 110.96 crore, Tata Steel at Rs 106.42 crore, SBI at Rs 104.65 crore and Unitech at Rs 86.50 crore.
Unitech has clocked the highest volumes of 9.71 million shares, followed by Suzlon at 8.17 million, Bharti Airtel at 3.26 million, Reliance Communication at 2.90 million and HDIL at 3.38 million.