Nifty ends above 3100 led by RIL, ONGC, banking, metal

05 January 2009

The Reserve Bank's rate cut move and government's second fiscal stimulus package have kept the markets warm through the session. Positive global markets also lent support. The Nifty managed to cross the 3100 mark in the last half an hour of trade and closed above the same level. The Sensex surged above 10,300 level in trade today.

Buying in shares of oil exploration, banking, capital goods, auto, technology (barring Satyam) and metal helped the markets a lot. Major leading players were Reliance Industries, ONGC, ICICI Bank, SAIL, HDFC, Reliance Communication, Infosys, TCS, Sterlite Industries, L&T, HDFC Bank and Tata Steel, which gained 3-11%. SBI and BHEL went up nearly 2%. However, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, DLF, HUL, Satyam, ITC and Hero Honda were under pressure.

The Reserve Bank of India cut the cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points on Friday, and both the repo and reverse repo rates by 100 bps. (100 bps=1%) The CRR now stands at 5%, while the repo rate post the cut stands at 5.5% from 6.5% earlier. The reverse repo rate is now at 4% from 5% earlier.

The government announced a second fiscal stimulus package amounting to Rs 20,000 crore on Friday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 10,275.60, up 317.38 points or 3.19% over previous close. The 50-share NSE Nifty was up by 2.45% or 74.70 points, to settle at 3121.45.

Metal Index outperformed other indices, jumped 5.54% or 307.84 points to 5,869.08. Sterlite Industries, Hind Zinc, Jindal Saw, SAIL, Tata Steel and JSL went up 5-10%.