Sensex takes a leap of 470 pts on global cues

The stock market on Thursday scripted one of its most memorable rallies in recent times with the Sensex making its third biggest single-day gain. Stable global markets and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that the nation's economy may expand more than 9 per cent in the current financial year led to fresh purchases in banking, cement and metal stocks.

The Sensex closed at 13,049.35, up 469.60 points or 3.73 per cent from the previous close. This is the biggest single-day gain since June 15, 2006, when the index rose by 615.62 points. The broader Nifty-50 rose by 134.8 points or 3.72 per cent to 3,761.65. Thursday's gain saw the market capitalisation of the Indian stock market rise by Rs 1,14,693.60 crore. 

TOP 10 SINGLE-DAY SENSEX GAINS
Date	Prev close	Close	Change	% change
15-Jun-06	8929.44	9545.06	615.62	6.89
9-Jun-06	9295.81	9810.46	514.65	5.54
8-Mar-07	12579.75	13049.35	469.60	3.73
30-Jun-06	10162.16	10609.25	447.09	4.40
12-Jan-07	13630.71	14056.53	425.82	3.12
2-Jun-06	10071.42	10451.33	379.91	3.77
18-May-06	4505.16	4877.02	371.86	8.25
3-Jan-00	5005.82	5375.11	369.29	7.38
7-Apr-00	4866.73	5219.20	352.47	7.24
15-Feb-07	14009.90	14355.55	345.65	2.47

"In addition to buying by foreign funds, there seems to have been big purchases by domestic institutions as well," said Harendra Kumar, head of research at ICICI Securities.

A big mover was Hindustan Lever, an index heavyweight, whose shares moved up 9.54 per cent to Rs 183.80 on big volumes. "The turnover on the Hindustan Lever counter indicates big buying by institutions," said Kumar.

The other top Sensex stock movers were Gujarat Ambuja (up 8.40 per cent to Rs 112.90), BHEL (up 8 per cent to Rs 2,175.45), Dr Reddy's Lab (up 6.72 per cent to Rs 677), and Grasim (up 6.21 per cent to Rs 2,235.15).

Foreign funds, which have been net sellers to the tune of over Rs 2,200 crore in the first four trading sessions of this month, have started fresh buying in the cash segment, according to provisional data of the National Stock Exchange.

"Shares of cement stocks have gone down too much. Prices of banking and capital goods stocks have also fallen more than warranted. There is value buying coming in these counters," said a fund manager with an asset management company.

All the 30 Sensex stocks ended in positive territory, while only six of the BSE-100 stocks ended lower than yesterday's close. Asian stock markets rose on Thursday after Japan's yen had the biggest fall in five months.

ICICI Bank rose 4.5 per cent to Rs 863.4 and Infosys climbed 2.4 per cent to Rs 2,142.35. The two stocks account for about a fifth of the Sensex by weight.

Reliance Industries climbed 3.5 per cent to Rs 1,334.80 after saying it plans to buy out the minority shareholders of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation, which surged 12 per cent to Rs 259.80.

Indian Petrochemicals uses naphtha made at Reliance's refinery as feedstock to make chemicals. Chemical prices jumped as much as 27 per cent in 2006.