Markets close higher led by financials, oil & gas, telecom

16 March 2009

The benchmark indices continued the upside momentum for the third consecutive session on the back of further short covering in rate sensitive and most beaten down other largecaps. The markets resumed their northward journey in the last couple of hours, after witnessing volatility in the first half of the trade. Positive global cues were supportive for our markets. The Sensex closed above the 8900 level while the Nifty held above the 2750 level.

This sharp upmove was mainly led by banking, telecom, oil & gas, FMCG, capital goods and power stocks. Flows were muted at FIIs desk in cash segment while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers in today's trade. Mid caps were again back in the limelight after large cap outperformance last week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex touched an intraday high of 8,955.73, before closing the day at 8,943.54, up 186.93 points or 2.13%. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up 2.13% or 58 points, to settle at 2,777.25. Among broader indices, BSE Midcap Index gained 60.20 points or 2.28% at 2,700.56 and Small Cap Index was up 64.43 points or 2.2%, to 2,998.49.

Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Reliance Communication, ONGC, ITC, BHEL, DLF, ICICI Bank, HUL, TCS and L&T were leading contributors in today's rally. However, Infosys, Maruti, Sun Pharma, Grasim, Cipla, Cairn, Reliance Infrastructure and Unitech ended weak.

At the time of closing of Indian equities, European markets were trading higher. FTSE was trading at 3,822, up 69 points. CAC was up 71 points, to 2,777 and DAX gained 90 points at 4,044.

BSE Realty Index outperformed other indices, jumped 5.35% or 75.35 points, to 1,483.91. Puravankara Projects shot up 14.31%. Orbit Corporation, Parsvnath, DLF and HDIL were up around 6% each.