Sensex, Nifty close 1% up; HDFC Bank, Sterlite top gainers

It was a follow-up rally in the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty on Thursday led by banks, oil & gas, capital goods, auto and metals stocks. Benchmarks rallied more than 1% on Thursday and over 4% in the week so far.

The BSE benchmark rose 194.75 points, to close at 16,649.05 and the NSE benchmark moved up 52.55 points to 5,049.65.

Now the rally seemed to be priced in rate cut hopes and infrastructure targets of Prime Minister ManMohan Singh. Sharp fall in rupee was another factor that helped markets move higher. The Indian rupee appreciated by 34 paise to 55.02 as against the US dollar today at 15:45 hours IST.

Globally markets are closely watching Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to the Congress today after Yellen comments. Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen said, "There is a case for Fed to ease given the turmoil in Europe."

Even in the Europe, optimism is high on continued talk of EU planning a rescue of Spanish banks, and working on fiscal union. Over the next couple of weeks, significant events like the Greek and French elections are scheduled along with a G20 and euro summit.

France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up 0.7% each. The Dow Jones futures were marginally higher.

Back home, rate sensitives like banks, auto and realty stocks have been seen steep rally since yesterday on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India may cut repo rates to revive economic growth.

Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank rallied 3.5% and 3%, respectively. Country's largest lender State Bank of India rose 0.4% and housing finance company HDFC gained 0.9%. Axis Bank rose 3.6%.

Realty major DLF surged 3%. Among auto stocks, top car maker Maruti spiked 3% and top two-wheeler manufacturer Hero Motocorp went up 2.4%. M&M and Tata Motors were up 1.8% and 1%, respectively.

Reliance Industries trimmed gains to 1% from 2.5% as company's 38th annual general meeting was completely a non event for the market. Market experts raised doubts over targets set by the chairman Mukesh Ambani for gas production of 60 mmscmd in 3-4 years and doubling operating profit in 4-5 years.

FMCG majors ITC and HUL were up 0.7-1%. Shares of Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and ONGC moved up 0.7-1.3%.

Sterlite Industries topped the buying list, rising 3.85% while Jindal Steel gained 2%.

India's second largest software services exporter Infosys surged 1.8% whereas its rivals TCS and Wipro went down 1% and 1.9%, respectively.

In the second line shares, sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini Mills and Shree Renuka Sugars shot up 4-6%.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1523 to 1165 on the National Stock Exchange.

It was a follow-up rally in the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty on Thursday led by banks, oil & gas, capital goods, auto and metals stocks. Benchmarks rallied more than 1% on Thursday and over 4% in the week so far.

The BSE benchmark rose 194.75 points, to close at 16,649.05 and the NSE benchmark moved up 52.55 points to 5,049.65.

Now the rally seemed to be priced in rate cut hopes and infrastructure targets of Prime Minister ManMohan Singh. Sharp fall in rupee was another factor that helped markets move higher. The Indian rupee appreciated by 34 paise to 55.02 as against the US dollar today at 15:45 hours IST.

Globally markets are closely watching Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to the Congress today after Yellen comments. Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen said, "There is a case for Fed to ease given the turmoil in Europe."

Even in the Europe, optimism is high on continued talk of EU planning a rescue of Spanish banks, and working on fiscal union. Over the next couple of weeks, significant events like the Greek and French elections are scheduled along with a G20 and euro summit.

France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up 0.7% each. The Dow Jones futures were marginally higher.

Back home, rate sensitives like banks, auto and realty stocks have been seen steep rally since yesterday on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India may cut repo rates to revive economic growth.

Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank rallied 3.5% and 3%, respectively. Country's largest lender State Bank of India rose 0.4% and housing finance company HDFC gained 0.9%. Axis Bank rose 3.6%.

Realty major DLF surged 3%. Among auto stocks, top car maker Maruti spiked 3% and top two-wheeler manufacturer Hero Motocorp went up 2.4%. M&M and Tata Motors were up 1.8% and 1%, respectively.

Reliance Industries trimmed gains to 1% from 2.5% as company's 38th annual general meeting was completely a non event for the market. Market experts raised doubts over targets set by the chairman Mukesh Ambani for gas production of 60 mmscmd in 3-4 years and doubling operating profit in 4-5 years.

FMCG majors ITC and HUL were up 0.7-1%. Shares of Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and ONGC moved up 0.7-1.3%.

Sterlite Industries topped the buying list, rising 3.85% while Jindal Steel gained 2%.

India's second largest software services exporter Infosys surged 1.8% whereas its rivals TCS and Wipro went down 1% and 1.9%, respectively.

In the second line shares, sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini Mills and Shree Renuka Sugars shot up 4-6%.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1523 to 1165 on the National Stock Exchange.