Sensex closes above 16,000; IT, pharma, cement, banks gain

The benchmark Sensex closed above the psychological 16000 mark for the first time in the last four sessions on the back of buying interest in technology, cement, pharma, banking, select telecom and capital goods. Positive global cues also helped the markets.

Satish Betadpur, IIR Group, PLC said, "Some major efforts have been made to somehow defuse this European crises and right now that's the main trigger for the rally up in the market around the world and in India also. So things are looking up. We have always been bullish on the India story and we have always said any peripheral market tremors causing India to go down would be buying opportunities and we still stick to that."

However, the selling in oil & gas, FMCG & realty stocks along with JSPL, Hindalco, Maruti, M&M and Reliance Communication capped the gains to some extent.

The markets were marginally weak in the first half one hour of trade. Recovery in Asian markets helped the markets to turn strong; Taiwan and Straits Times gained 2% each. Kospi and Hang Seng gained over 1.1%. Jakarta and Shanghai were up 0.5% each. However, Nikkei fell just 0.2%.

European markets and the US index futures were trading marginally higher, at the time of closing of Indian equities.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 16,042.18, up 106.57 points or 0.67% and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 0.68% or 32.25 points to settle at 4,792.65. The broader indices also ended higher; the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.44% each.