Sensex ends up 283 pts

Rate sensitives lead gains

The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 19948  - up 283 points. Nifty has ended up 73 points at 6,024.
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(Updated at 1430 hrs)

Markets continued to trade on a firm note in late-noon deals with the Sensex gaining 167 points to 19,831. NSE benchmark Nifty was up 49 points as it breached 6,000 once again. The lower than expected inflation figures were cheered by investors.

The annual wholesale price inflation (WPI) eased to 7.18% in December, government data showed on Monday. It was below analysts' expectations of 7.40% and down from 7.24% annual rise in November.

Meanwhile in Asia, Chinese stocks surged 3% to 2,312 after a regulator said the country will grant foreigners greater access to its stock markets, with financials fronting the rally. Hang Seng, Nikkei and Kospi also went up substantially.

Rate sensitive sectors were among the top gainers on hopes that easing inflation would help the central bank to cut rates at its policy meet during the end of the month. BSE realty index surged 4% to 2228. IT index went up 2.5% at 6,411, still riding on the good numbers posted by bellweather - Infosys. However, BSE auto index shed 0.5% at 11,574.

TCS was up nearly 3% at Rs 1,343 ahead of its third quarter earnings to be release after market hours today. "We belive TCS would find it difficult to move above 1370 kind of levels, also looking at options data not much big movement is expected on TCS counter after the resutls. So from our understanding one should look to book profits near 1370 levels," said Navneet Daga, derivative analyst, KR Choksey Securities.

Infosys extended gains on Monday and was up over 3% at Rs 2,795 after the company on Friday surprised the street with better-than-expected results for the third quarter ended December 2012 (Q3) and also raised its full year guidance.

Metal shares - Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Hindalco added 1-3% each. ONGC was up 2.3%, followed by heavyweights ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro and ITC.

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki slipped 1.7% at Rs 1,538. Cipla, Bajaj Auto and Coal India shed around 1% each. Among them, Bajaj Auto comes out with quarterly numbers on Wednesday.