The markets closed on a healthy note this afternoon, with the Sensex gaining 265 points at 18,439, while the Nifty added 90 points to close at 5,535.
___________________________________________________
(Updated at 1430 hrs)
The Indian markets continued to consolidate gains in the late afternoon sessions even as Japan's benchmark, the Nikkei 225 index, struggled to hold ground after a series of devestating earthquakes and tsunamis ravaged the northeastern region of the country.
In the late afternoon session, the Sensex was at the day's high of 18,406 up 232 points, while the Nifty saw a gain of 75 points at 5,5211.
After a rather soft start this morning, the markets kept gaining on the back of robust buying in aviation, energy and auto stocks, owing to a fall in oil prices below $100 a barrel.
After several refineries in Japan shut down following the natural calamity that struck one of the world's most advanced nations, thus predicting a lower demand for crude in the country, in the immediate near term.
However, oil prices could see a bounce back once undamaged refineries in Japan start augmenting output levels to tackle increasing power demands.
Soon after its opening, the Sensex touched an intra-day low of 18,155, after February inflation numbers sagged investor sentiment, albeit very briefly.
Headline inflation for February stood at 8.3% on a y-o-y basis, well above a median forecast of 7.79% in a Reuters poll, and also marginally higher than the annual rise of 8.23% noted in January this year.
However, the markets remained on a firm footing through the day so far, also because of anticipations regarding the government's advance tax collections, to be released on March 15, as also the RBI's mid-quarterly policy review, due on March 17.
On the benchmark, Tata Power led the gainers chart at Rs 1,249 up 4%, followed by Tata Steel at Rs 598 and Relaince Communications at Rs 99 both up 3%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Induatries was also up nearly 3% at Rs 1,017, as lowered crude prices buffered market sentiment for the sector.
Losers on the index were Bharti Airtel at Rs 322, HUL at Rs 277 and Hero Honda at Rs 1,528 all down less than half a per cent.
Oil & Gas stocks witnessed strong buying, as crude prices fell substantially from their 2.5 year highs reported last week. The Oil & Gas index firmed up 2% at 9,926, as oil prices slipped below the $100 mark.
Top gainers in this space were Gail India at Rs 464 up 5%, followed by HPCL at Rs 333 and BPCL at Rs 566 both up 4%.
Metal stocks also picked up in late afternoon trades; the index was up nearly 2% at 15,649.
Gaining stocks in this space were Welspun Corp at Rs 196 up 5%, SAIL at Rs 160 and Tata Steel at Rs 598 both up 3%.
The IT index was the third highest gainer on the sectoral chart, up 1.3% at 6,230.
HCL Technologies at Rs 463, Infosys at Rs 3,104 abd TCS at Rs 1,093 were all up nearly 2%.