Sensex ends above 9000 led by metal, power, telecom, IT, bank

27 January 2009

The benchmark indices have seen smart bounce back in today's trade, after sharp fall in last week and long weekend period. Both indices ended on a strong note - the Sensex surpassed 9000 mark during the day while the Nifty stayed above 2750 level. RBI's credit policy announcement was clearly the non-event of the day, as the central bank kept all rates unchanged.

Buying in metal, power, telecom, technology, oil & gas (except ONGC), banking, realty and Cement stocks has lifted the markets higher. Domestic funds were buyers in today?s trade while volumes were low at FII desk as Asian markets shut. Short covering was seen in select large cap stocks ahead of expiry. Positive flows have seen in metal stocks at FII desk despite weakness in Arcelor Mittal stock today.

The BSE Sensex has touched an intraday high of 9,021.97, before closing the day at 9,004.08, up 329.73 points or 3.8%. The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 92.80 points, to settle at 2771.35, up 3.46% over previous close.

Biggest contributors were Reliance Industries, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, SBI, BHEL, Infosys, Sterlite Inds, Reliance Communication, ICICI Bank and Wipro . However, ONGC, GAIL, PNB, L&T and Suzlon Energy remained under pressure.

The Reserve Bank of India has left all key rates unchanged, the repo, the reverse repo and the CRR are held at current levels. The bank rate too is left static. The GDP target has revised downwards to 7% with a downward bias, this versus a previous target of between 7.5% to 8%. Inflation targets for the fiscal year are marked down to as low as 3%, versus an earlier target of below 7%.

RBI expects CPI to fall further with decline in input prices. It has also upped bank credit target to 24% from 20% while money supply target has been upped to 19% from 16.5-17%.