The Sensex finally ended with a (provisional) gain of 154 points at 17,595. The Nifty added 47 points to 5,283.
_________________________________________________
(Updated at 1438 hrs)
It is getting better for the markets with every passing hour. The Sensex is now quoting at 17636, higher by 194 points and the Nifty is at 5295, up 60 points. The midcap index is at 7195, higher by 56 points and the smallcap index is at 9206, up 73 points.
The benchmark indices were trading firm, albeit in a narrow range, in the morning session. But a strong opening across Europe and a rebound across the Asian bourses was enough to catapult our markets higher in noon trades. And the positive sentiment has been further augmented by the rally in Dow futures, which suggests a 100-plus point opening on Wall Street, which is due for a recovery after correcting in the past 10 trading sessions.
The metal sector, which has been bruised in recent times, has added more than 2% to emerge as the top sectoral gainer on the BSE. Hindalco has strengthened by 2.2% at Rs 144 and Sterlite has added 1.7% at Rs 163, while Tata Steel has added 1.9% at Rs 480 and Sail has gained 1.5% at Rs 193.
The IT sector comes a close second. TCS has strengthened by 2.3% at Rs 757, Infosys has added 1.9% at Rs 2797 and Wipro has gained 1.4% at Rs 395.
And the banking space has ignored the developments on the rate hike front to also be among the front-runners. HDFC Bank has strengthened by 2.6% at Rs 1962, ICICI Bank has gained 1.8% at Rs 856 and SBI has added 1.7% at Rs 2312.
RCom (weakened by 1.2% at Rs 183), Hero Honda (shed 0.3% at Rs 2014) and Jaiprakash Associates (lost 0.3% at Rs 125) continue to occupy the laggards list.
The market breadth is positive. Out of 2957 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1710 advancing stocks as against 1144 declines.
