Markets continue winning streak

Markets gained smartly in late-noon trades on the back of all-round buying. A positive closing for Asian markets and reports that the government has tabled some key reform bills in the Parliament this week, helped the index to end in the positive for the fourth straight day. The market ended the week with the largest percentage gain since July 2009.

Wall Street had another good session with the sentiment rubbing on to Asian bourses. India too latched on to the optimistic mood.

The Sensex after trading firm in the morning, shot up as IT stocks gained. The BSE benchmark touched a high of 18,858 - up over 500 points from the previous close. The index finally settled at 18,815 - up 465 points. The Nifty ended up 132 points at 5,654 crossing the 5,600 mark after 14 trading days.

"The coming three-four months may turn out to be the best period for equity Investments since stock prices of many well managed companies have dropped sharply," said Tejas Doshi, Vice President – Research, Sushil Financial.

Broader markets were trading firm but could not manage to outperform the benchmark. The BSE mid and small-cap indices gained 1% each to 6,723 and 8,001, respectively.

All the sectoral indices ended in the positive. BSE IT index surged on better-than-expected US tech earnings data. The index rallied 3.6% to 6,321. Financial Technologies soared 7% to Rs 823. Infosys gained 5.3% on reports that it may outperform TCS this year. Wipro and Oracle Financial were up around 3.5% each.

"Shorts are getting covered in the IT space and currently long positions are getting built," said Shailesh Kadam, Associate Vice President-Institutional Derivatives at PINC Research.

BSE Bankex was up 2.6% at 12,912. Banking stocks continued to gain from the government's decision to move the Banking Amendment Bill in the Parliament earlier this week. Realty, power and auto stocks also moved up.

Heavyweight - Infosys and ICICI Bank pushed the index higher. ICICI Bank gained 3.6% at Rs 1,090. NTPC added 3.8% to Rs 182. Tata Power advanced 3.6% to Rs 1,090. HDFC Bank moved up 3.2% followed by Larsen & Toubro, HDFC and Reliance infrastructure.

Market heavyweight, Reliance, Industries gained 1.5% to Rs 1,026 as higher crude oil prices will help boost refining margins. BHEL moved up 2% to Rs 2,089 after winning a $1.1 billion order from Power Grid, with ABB.

Fertilizer shares edged higher on reports demand for fertilizer may climb 4% this monsoon season.

Of the total 3040 shares traded, 1,727 advanced while 1,199 fell.