Global cues help Nifty end at new 30-month high of 5442

The benchmark Nifty closed at a new 30-month high on Thursday, tracking strength in global markets ahead of results of Stress Tests of 91 European banks on July 23. Finally it broke that 5350-5400 range, which had been for last seven and half sessions and managed to see a highest closing at 5442 since February 2008. Even the Sensex ended above 18000 level.

Technical Analyst, Ashwani Gujral said, this seems to be breakout on the upside. "It needs to sustain over the next couple of days and if it does then the next target is probably 5550."

This rally was led by financials followed by metal, telecom, realty, capital goods, healthcare, FMCG and select auto companies' shares. However, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti, Reliance Infrastructure, BPCL, ACC, Tata Power, PNB and HCL Tech were the only losers on Nifty.

European markets bounced back after initial sell-off today, ahead of Stress Tests. Europe is testing how 91 banks would cope with another economic slump and losses on government debt in the wake of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis. Britain's FTSE, France's CAC and Germany's DAX were up 0.9%, 1.8% & 1.4%, respectively. Even US index futures looked strong; Dow and Nasdaq Futures gained one percent each. Among Asian markets, Shanghai and Straits Times also ended 1% higher. Hang Seng rose 0.5% while Nikkei, Taiwan and Kospi declined 0.5-0.8%.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 18,113.15, up 135.92 points or 0.76% and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 42.60 points or 0.79% to settle at 5,441.95. The Nifty July futures ended at 6 points premium and August futures at 12 points premium, as per provisional data.

All sectoral indices were in green barring technology; BSE Metal and Auto indices rose 1.25% each. FMCG, Realty, Capital Goods, Bank, Power and Oil & Gas indices went up 0.5-0.9%.