The Indian markets ended the day on a vibrant note, as the bourses furthered gains in the late afternoon sessions even as Japan's benchmark, the Nikkei 225 index, struggled to hold ground after a series of devestating earthquakes and tsunamis ravaged the northeastern region of the country.
Near to closing, the Sensex was at the day's high of 18,464 up 297 points from the day's opening. However, the BSE benchmark finally ended at 18,439, a gain of 265 points from its previous close, while the Nifty added 90 points to close at 5,535.
After a rather soft start this morning, the markets kept gaining on the back of robust buying in aviation, OMC and auto stocks, owing to a fall in oil prices below $100 a barrel.
After several refineries in Japan shut down following the natural calamity that struck one of the world's most advanced nations, thus predicting a lower demand for crude in the country, in the immediate near term.
However, oil prices could see a bounce back once undamaged refineries in Japan start augmenting output levels to tackle increasing power demands.
Soon after its opening, the Sensex touched an intra-day low of 18,155, after February inflation numbers sagged investor sentiment, albeit very briefly.
Headline inflation for February stood at 8.3% on a y-o-y basis, well above a median forecast of 7.79% in a Reuters poll, and also marginally higher than the annual rise of 8.23% noted in January this year.
However, the markets remained on a firm footing through the day, also because of anticipations regarding the government's advance tax collections, to be released on March 15, as also the RBI's mid-quarterly policy review, due on March 17.
Heavyweight components like Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel contributed a little over 50% of the day's gains, that is, 135 points of the total 265 points. Of this, RIL alone added 59 points to the Sensex today.
ADAG stocks propelled the benchmark, as Reliance Communications led the gainers chart at Rs 101, followed by Tata Power at Rs 1,249, both up 4%, while Reliance Infra closed up 3.5% at Rs 626.
Index heavyweight RIL was up nearly 3% at Rs 1,018, as lowered crude prices buffered market sentiment for the sector.
Losers on the index were Bharti Airtel at Rs 322, HUL at Rs 278 and ONGC at Rs 281 all down less than half a per cent.
Oil & Gas stocks witnessed strong buying, as crude prices fell substantially from their 2.5 year highs reported last week. The Oil & Gas index firmed up a little more than 2% at 9,937, as oil prices slipped below the $100 mark.
Top gainers in this space were Gail India at Rs 462 up almost 5%, followed by BPCL at Rs 571 and HPCL at Rs 334 both up a little over 4%.
Metal stocks also picked up in late afternoon trades, and the index shored up 2% at 15,676 at close.
Top metal stocks were Welspun Corp at Rs 198 up 6%, Tata Steel at Rs 601 and JSW Steel at Rs 928 both up 3%.
The IT index was the third highest gainer on the sectoral chart, up 1.5% at 6,241.
HCL Technologies at Rs 464 and TCS at Rs 1,097 were the major gainers among the outsourcing and software exporting majors, both up 2%, followed by bellweather Wipro at Rs 456, which closed up 1.5%.
FMCG stocks were the laggards in trade, as the index, although up 0.7% at 3,516, ended the day as the sectoral loser.
The market breadth was fairly positive, as 1,520 stocks advanced, while 1,327 stocks declined on the BSE.
Taking a stock of the Eastern markets, Japan's benchmark, the Nikkei 225, declined 6% at 9,620 today, as a nuclear threat cast a shadow over the country's efforts to regain lost ground in the face of the biggest crisis to have plagued the country after the WW 2. World stocks also slipped to a 6-week low on Japanese concerns.
Other Asian markets absorbed the shock of Japan's fall to a great extent, as the Shanghai Composite closed marginally in the green at 2,939, while the Hang Seng gained 0.4% at 23,346, and the Seoul Composite moved up nearly 1% at 1,971.
The Straits Times at 3,036 and the Taiwan Weighted at 8,520 closed in the red, down 0.3% and 0.6% respectively.
European markets weren't spared the aftershocks of the fall in Japan, as major indices were trading in the red, as mounting crises in one of the world's most powerful and developed economies led to anxiety that potential costs to businesses could soar in the coming months.
The CAC 40 slipped 0.3% at 3,917, while the DAX shed 0.7% at 6,931, and the FTSE 100 slipped marginally at 5,822, with nuclear stocks seeing heavy selling in favour of renewable energy stocks.
