Markets close strong; banks, cap goods, IT, realty up 3-4 per cent

It was a spectacular performance from the benchmark indices on the first day of July series. Huge upsurge in capital goods, banking, oil & gas, technology and realty stocks lifted the Nifty above the 4350 level and the Sensex above the 14700 level.

Huge buying in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, ONGC, L&T, Infosys, BHEL, TCS, Bharti, SBI, Sterlite, SAIL, HDFC and Reliance Communication took the markets higher by 400 points in the last hour of trade. These stocks went up 2-8%.

However, the selling was seen in only Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy Labs, Hero Honda, M&M and Tata Steel. US FDA seized 33 drugs of Sun Pharma's subsidiary Caraco, which would impact the consolidated sales of Sun Pharma by 10-12%. The stock fell more than 11.5%.

The 50-share NSE Nifty shot up 3.15% or 133.65 points, to settle at 4375.50 and the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 2.92% or 419.02 points, to 14,764.64. Respective indices gained 1.4% and 1.7% this week. Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap Index went up 2.4% or 121 points, to 5,170.90 and the Smallcap Index gained 107.73 points or 1.89% at 5,800.75.

Deepak Mohoni of Trendwatchindia said the market has actually won the fight because we now have lot of stocks making bull market highs. The midcap index has already gone into an intermediate uptrend. The Sensitive Index and the Nifty were very close to one. He said, "Next week should be a very healthy one for the market when the Budget comes in, unless there is something very negative there, the rally should continue through the budget."

Raamdeo Agrawal of Motilal Oswal said we may be seeing the start of a new bull market. He added that he was bullish on infrastructure, cement, domestic steel, FMCG and two wheelers ahead.