Markets take heart in small things

Benchmark indices closed in the green zone with Sensex and Nifty clocking 0.2-0.6% gains led by financials and information technology shares. IT stocks were in demand today with hopes of a sturdier economic recovery in US, after jobless claims data showed a decline last week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 118.99 points higher at 21,193.58 and the broader 50-share Nifty gained 34.90 points to close at 6,313.80.

Small-cap stocks emerged as winners with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) small-cap index, which ended over 1% higher, outperformed the benchmarks significantly.

TCS, Infosys, HDFC, ITC, ICICI Bank were the top Sensex gainers today while Reliance, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank and BHEL remained the top losers.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 743.70 crore, on 26 December 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

On the global front, most Asian share markets notched up gains on Friday after another powerful performance by Wall Street, while Japanese economic data impressed and the dollar briefly broke the 105 yen barrier for the first time in five years.

Shanghai made the running with a rise of 1.7% as money rates eased and China set its yuan at an historic high. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.8 %.

Supporting sentiment was another record close for the Dow, while the S&P 500 brought its gains for the year so far to 29%.

Tokyo's Nikkei eked out a slim gain, logging a six-year closing high. The index remains 55.6% higher for the year, its best annual performance since 1972, driven by Japan's aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Back home, the rupee was off lows in afternoon trades due to dollar sale by state-run banks on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The rupee was trading at Rs 61.91 compared with previous close of Rs 62.16 per dollar.

IT was the top sectoral index, surging 1.7% higher followed by Healthcare, FMCG, Bankex, metals, Consumer durables which ended 0.4-0.5% higher. Oil & gas and auto were the sole laggards on the BSE indices tracking sectors.

Advance decline ratio remained in favour of the bulls with 1378 shares advacing against a decline seen in 1171 shares. 

Other shares

UPL is trading closed over 2% higher at Rs 193.60 at the NSE ahead of its board meeting on Monday to consider the share buyback proposal.

FMCG stocks rose on renewed buying. Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC edged higher. Apollo Hospitals Enterprise and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services edged higher as these two stocks have been included by NSE for trading in its futures & options segment starting today, 27 December 2013.

Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC rose 0.67%% to Rs 322.10. The stock hit high of Rs 322.10 and low of Rs 320 so far during the day.

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals rose 0.18%% to Rs 2960 after striking record high of Rs 2,963.80 in intraday trade.

Swaraj Engines surjed 6.59% to Rs 642.50, after touching a record high on the BSE, on back of heavy volumes on the bourses. The stock opened at Rs 615 and touched a low of Rs 610 in early morning deals on the BSE.