Sensex ends up 524 points; Bankex up 8 per cent, O&G gains 4 per cent

18 July 2008

It was a spectacular session for markets, which ended second straight day on a stronger note. Stunning performance was seen from banking, realty, oil, capital goods, power and FMCG stocks. The Sensex gained over 1100 points and Nifty 300 points from weekly lows of 12,514 and 3,790, respectively. Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, ONGC, HDFC and L&T were top contributors in the gain of indices.

Sensex surged 572.42 points to hit an intraday high of 13,684.27. It closed at 13,635.40, a jump of 523.55 points or 3.99% over previous close.

Nifty clawed back above 4100 and touched a high of 4110.55 with a gain of 163.35 points. But it ended at 4092.25, gain of 145.05 points or 3.67%.

On the weekly basis, Sensex jumped up around 1.3% and Nifty up around 1.2%. BSE IT Index plunged 8.3% due to weak guidance from tech giants like Satyam and Wipro. BSE Metal Index fell 7.5%. Top buzzers are BGR Energy, ORG Info and Essar Shipping, which rose 33%, 25% and 11%, respectively.

Amongst frontliners, ICICI Bank rose 12.05%, HDFC 9.47%, HDFC Bank 7.87%, Jaiprakash Associates 7.72%, DLF 7.16% and Bharti Airtel 7.10% while Satyam lost 7.51%, HCL Tech -5.36%, Wipro -3.75 %, Ranbaxy Labs -3.26%, Tata Steel -2.43% and Infosys -2.20%.

Banking stocks were outperformers of the day, index shot up by 461.29 points or 8.05% to settle at 6,188.89. This includes ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, PNB, Union Bank, SBI, Bank of India and IOB, which went up 5-12%.