Markets get into Diwali mode a day ahead as Sensex rallies 200 points

31 October 2005

After more than two weeks of gloom and despair, the markets finally decided to celebrate the festive season in style with a very strong rally. The global cues were strong as US markets had closed on a very positive note on Friday and markets across Asia notched up substantial gains today.

The indices opened on a firm note and maintained a steady up trend throughout the day. The rally was threatened not even once though some analysts had forecast weakness in afternoon trades. The indices were not affected even when news of FII sales on the derivatives segment on Friday came in.

The momentum gathered pace in afternoon trades as some of the short positions were covered. The last half hour of trade saw the Sensex trading above the 7900 mark. The indices closed the day near the day's highs with gains of well over 2 per cent each.

The gains were led by technology majors, all of which surged ahead on strong buying. Satyam was the biggest gainer closing more than 5 per cent higher followed by Infosys which gained more than 4 per cent. TCS added close to 3 per cent while Wipro closed with gains of 2 per cent.

ONGC added over a per cent while Reliance Industries closed almost 3 per cent higher.