Sensex rises on Asian cue

Falling global crude oil prices and strong Asian markets dramatically changed sentiment and triggered a 2 per cent rise in the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) on Wednesday, its biggest single-day gain since July 20.

The benchmark index closed at 11,893.79, up 233 points, and the broad-based S&P CNX Nifty gained by 64.65 points, or 1.91 per cent, to close at 3,454.55.

With the last two days' rise, the Sensex has almost recovered the 367 points it fell on Monday. "The market is looking strong. However, there seems to be resistance near the 12,000 mark," said Vijay Kedia of Kedia Securities.

Stocks of oil refiners, and automobile and aviation firms rose after crude oil prices fell below $64 a barrel, while bank stocks gained on falling bond yields and consolidation in the banking sector, following the Reserve Bank of India's nod for IDBI's proposed take-over of United Western Bank.

Crude oil lost 2.8 per cent, falling below $64 a barrel in New York, after the International Energy Agency cut its global consumption estimates. US light crude oil for October delivery fell $1.85, to $63.76 a barrel. With this, it has fallen for seven consecutive days.

IDBI was the biggest gainer on Wednesday, with a 14.46 per cent increase to Rs 71.25.

United Western Bank's scrip was up 4.9 per cent to Rs 22.50.

Top gainers among the Sensex stocks were Bharti Airtel (up 4.67 per cent to Rs 443.05), NTPC (4.40 per cent to Rs 129), ICICI Bank (4.49 per cent to Rs 630.85) and State Bank of India (4.01 per cent to Rs 969.40). Only two stocks among the 30-share Sensex "" Hindalco and Reliance Communications "" ended in negative territory.

Jet Airways rose by 7.7 per cent to Rs 685.35 and car manufacturer Maruti Udyog was up 3.66 per cent to Rs 955.95, while Indian Oil Corporation ended at Rs 534.95, a gain of 3.9 per cent.

Among technology stocks, Satyam Computer gained 2.2 per cent to close at Rs 801 and Infosys was up 2.3 per cent to Rs 1,813 while Wipro advanced 2.2 per cent to Rs 515.

The market breadth was also positive with 1,702 stocks ending above the previous close, compared with 812 declining stocks. Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Bankex was the biggest gainer at 3.96 per cent. Except for the BSE Metal Index, all the indices ended in the positive. The metal index was down by a marginal 0.01 per cent.

Top traded counters on the BSE were Infrastructure Development Finance Company at 45.2 million traded shares (the stock gained by 5.6 per cent), followed by Spicejet at 8 million shares (the stock gained by 4.6 per cent) and IDBI, in which about 6.2 million shares were traded.