Rally in shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs) continued for the second day after the Government yesterday partially de-regulated the diesel prices, which will help reduce subsidies and keep the fiscal deficit in check.
As a result, refinery stocks like IOC, BPCL, ONGC, HPCL and RIL closed up between 10.57 per cent and 1.15 per cent. The sectoral CNX-Energy index flared up 2.99 per cent.
The market got a further boost after Asian bourses closed in positive terrain after world's top two economies, US and China, showed new signs of economic recovery. European stocks traded mixed with upward bias in late afternoon deals.
The 50-issue Nifty resumed higher and remained in positive terrain throughout the day to settle up by 25.20 points, or 0.42 per cent, at 6,064.40, its highest closing since January 5, 2011 when it had finished at 6,079.80.
Top five gainers from the Nifty were BPCL (9.79 pct), ONGC (7.39 pct), NTPC (4.71 pct), Maruti Suzuki (3.57 pct) and PowerGrid (2.04 pct) while loser were Wipro (7.74 pct), Hero MoroCorp (3.00 pct), Dr. Reddy's Lab (2.44 pct), Jindal Steel (2.04 pct) and HUL (2.03 pct).
Turnover in cash segment improved further to Rs 14,758.81 crore from Rs 13,642.54 crore yesterday. A total of 7,129.02 lakh shares changed hands in 66,93,362 trades. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 69,46,303 crore.