Nifty ends at new 30-month high on global cues

09 Aug 2010

The benchmark Nifty closed at a new 30-month high led by global cues and buying in infrastructure, realty, metal, technology, telecom, auto and select financial companies' shares. Index finished the trade at 5486 for the first time since January 18, 2008.

Keeping the bias as positive, the Nifty still looks bullish to Mohindar. ''5,380 is a good support. Keeping that as a stop loss one could be looking at targets close to 5,560. We continue to remain positive on the benchmarks but stocks specifically, sectors specifically you got to go with three themes-technology, auto and banking,'' he advices.

Global markets were strong on Monday, which led this rally; European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were trading 1.3-1.55% higher, at the time of closing of Indian equities. US index futures like Dow Jones future was up 0.35% and Nasdaq up 1.35%. Asian markets also recovered in late trade; Shanghai, Hang Seng, Kospi and Taiwan rose 0.4-0.9% while Nikkei and Straits Times slipped 0.4-0.7%.

Realty companies' shares witnessed huge buying interest; the BSE Realty Index rallied 4.5%. Unitech surged 6.5%, as shareholders have passed the resolutions with requisite majority approving the scheme of arrangement among Aditya Properties Pvt. Ltd, Unitech Holdings Ltd, Unitech Ltd and Unitech Infra Ltd. DLF rose 4.2%.

Rally was led by financials - especially major ones. Shares of India's largest banks - ICICI Bank and SBI gained 3.2% & 1.2%, respectively. HDFC, IDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and PNB went up 1-1.8% while HDFC Bank and Axis Bank declined over 0.3%.

Technology shares also bounced back in second half of trade; TCS rose 1.75%. Wipro, Infosys and HCL Tech were up 0.4-1%. These stocks were down post the US Senate passed the Border Security Bill on Friday, funding for which would be done by collecting higher visa fees.