Sensex gains 257 points, sniffs 11,000

In a reversal of sorts, the stock markets saw strong upward movement on Wednesday, led by front-line index stocks.

Against mixed cues from the Asian markets and a decidedly negative opening on the European bourses, the 30-stock Sensex moved up 2.4 per cent, and the Nifty by 1.86 per cent.

The gains, however, were more modest for the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices, which appreciated by 0.8 and 0.44 per cent, respectively.

The Sensex touched a high of 10,940 points, but ended slightly lower at 10,920, a gain of 257 points.

Suzlon Energy, which put on 7.15 per cent on Wednesday, Reliance Energy, and Tata Steel were the major outperformers on the Nifty, which saw only five out of the 50 stocks end in the red at the end of the day's trading.

Among sectors, metals and FMCG were the only two whose indices put on more than 3 per cent, while the gains were the lowest for the BSE Consumer Durables index, which crawled up by around 0.4 per cent.

The proportion of gainers to losers was lower on the broader indices, with the BSE 500 seeing nearly a third of its scrips end in the red after the day's trade. For the BSE as a whole, a little more than 42 per cent of the stocks declined, against the 54 per cent which went up.

With mutual funds turning neutral this month after a sell-off of nearly Rs 2,000 crore last month, brokers attributed Wednesday's activity to retail and daily trader interest.

"From a neutral position for most of last month, FIIs have started showing positive inflows into the market this month. This seems to have enthused the retail category, most of whom have been staying away from the market for more than a month," pointed out a dealer.

While mutual funds continued to be net sellers according to Sebi data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have so far pumped in nearly Rs 775 crore this month, with nearly half of it coming in today.

During the first two days of trade this month, for which data is available, mutual funds remained marginally in the seller camp, cutting their exposure by around Rs 60 crore.

The cash volumes remained low, in keeping with the past few sessions, at around Rs 8,800 crore for the BSE and NSE together.