Markets end higher led by banks

The benchmark share indices ended over 1% higher on Monday, after the Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar and firm global cues, led by banks and Reliance Industries. Further, a Moody's report stating that the depreciating rupee would have a 'limited' pact on India's sovereign ratings also boosted sentiment in late trades. The Sensex ended at 16,417, up 199 points and the 50-share Nifty advanced 65 points to shut shop at 4,986 levels.

The Indian rupee gained 21 paise to 55.17 against the US dollar due to uneven demand. Earlier, the rupee resumed higher at 55.25 per dollar as against the weekend level of 55.38 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and firmed further to 55.02 due to heavy selling of dollars by banks amid firm equity market.

Meanwhile, the global cues also helped the markets in gaining strength in trades today. The Asian markets ended higher. The Hang Seng advanced 87 points to 18,809, Shanghai was up 28 points at 2,361 and the Nikkei jumped 13 points to 8,593 levels.

The European markets were also trading on a firm note. The CAC 40 index was up 36 points at 3,084, DAX jumped 59 points to 6,398 and  FTSE added 59 points to 5,410 levels.

Back home, State Bank of India was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stock surged 5% to Rs 2,100. It has advanced 14% post its Q4 results.

Among the other heavyweight stocks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Wipro, UITC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, ITC and Infosys also advanced 1-4% each. While, Gail India, ONGC, HUL, Maruti Suzuki, Jindal Steel and Sun Pharma were among the notable losers.

Buying was visible across the board. The BSE banking index- bankex was the top sectoral gainer led by buying witnessed by heavyweight stocks. The index advanced 2.4% or 264 points to 11,162 levels. Power and consumer durable indices also jumped over 2% each in trades today. Capital goods, auto, PSU, realty, metal, FMCG, IT, healthcare and oil & gas indices also aended higher by 0.2-1.85% each.

ABB, BHEL, Tata Power, Crompton Greaves, Lanco Infra, power Grid, NTPC and PTC were the top gainers from the power sector.

Among the individual stocks, National Fertilisers has soared nearly 6% at Rs 81 on reporting more than doubling its net profit at Rs 56.87 crore for the quarter ended March 2012, as against Rs 26.72 crore in year ago quarter. Net sales grew 30% at Rs 2,086 crore on year-on-year basis.

Alstom T&D India moved higher by 3.2% to Rs 158 after winning an order worth Rs 96 crore from Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co (MSETCL).

Reliance Infrastructure ended higher by 2.2% at Rs 473, extending its Friday’s 2% gain, after reporting a healthy 84% year-on-year revenue growth at Rs 7,140 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2012 on the back of robust improvement in order execution in the EPC segment.

The broader markets also ended on a positive note. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 71 points to 5,972 and the small-cap index jumped 55 points to 6,373 levels.

The overall breadth was extremely positive as 1,714 stocks advanced while 1,008 stocks declined