Markets end on a strong note

Sensex provisionally ended higher by 215 points at 16,433

Markets ended Monday's trading session on a strong note, after the Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar and firm global cues, led by financials and Reliance Industries. The Sensex provisionally closed at 16,433, up 215 points and the Nifty advanced 71 points to provisionally close at 4,985 levels.
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(Upadted at 1430 hours)

Markets have maintained momentum in the late noon deals on the back of persistent buying visible across the board and firm opening cues from the European markets. The Sensex is up 120 points at 16,338 and the 50-share Nifty is up 40 points at 4,959 levels.

Meanwhile, the European markets opened on a firm note. The CAC 40 index is up 18 points at 3,065, DAX is up 47 points at 6,386 and the FTSE is up 37 points at 5,388 levels.

Back home, State Bank of India is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, up 3.4% at Rs 2,072. BHEL, Hindalco, Tata Power, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, NTOC, Tata Motors, Cipla, Wipro and Reliance Industries are also trading higher by 1-3% each. On the other hand, Gail India, HUL, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, Jindal Steel and DLF are among the notable losers.

Dhanlaxmi Bank has rallied 9% to Rs 56.40 on back of huge volumes. The trading volumes on the counter more than doubled with a combined 822,338 shares having changed hands so far, against an average 315,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks.

Reliance Infrastructure is trading higher by 3.5% at Rs 480, 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.

Buying is visible across the board. The BSE consumer durables index is the top sectoral gainer, up 2% or 125 points at 6,425. Power, bankex, capital goods, auto, healthcare and PSU indices have also advanced 0.6-1.6% each.

The broader markets are in line with the benchmark indices. The small -cap index is up 50 points at 5,951 and the small-cap index is up 47 points at 6,365 levels.

The overall breadth is positive as 1,532 stocks are advancing while 1,069 are declining.