Nifty ends above 5750, Sensex gains 265; Essar Oil up 21%

After a tiring Monday, the market gained mighty strength today. The market ended trading session at the highest point of the day. The Sensex closed at 19143.17, gaining 265.21 points or 1.40 percent while the Nifty added 85.75 points or 1.50 percent to end at 5784.25.

Buying was seen in the midcap counter, while pharma and high beta stocks too boosted the market. Positive European markets added to the euphoria.

Some of the biggest gainers of the day were Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Wipro (up around 4.5-3.3 percent each).

Essar Oil which which was badly battered in yesterday's trade gained 21 percent to close at Rs 88 on the BSE. Goldman Sachs has maintained a 'buy' rating on Essar Oil with a target price of Rs 110, an upside of over 45 percent from the current market price, after the company received phase III environmental clearance for the Raniganj coal bed methane (CBM) block.

Another big mover of the day was Alembic Pharma which was up 15.2 percent at Rs 92.20 on the BSE. It had touched intraday 52-week high of Rs 94.45 (up 18 percent over previous day's price) on Tuesday after the company received approval from the US FDA for its Desvenlafaxine base extended release tablets.

Among the other healthcare stocks, Aurobindo Pharma (up 6.6 percent), Cipla and Ranbaxy were the major gainers today,  DLF was up 3.6 percent as the board of directors will meet on Wednesday, March 6 to consider offer for sale. HCL Tech touched a fresh 52-week today (closed at Rs 746.10).

In the midcap space, PC Jeweller (up 11.8 percent ), Arvind (up 9.1 percent), IndiaBulls Real estate (5.5 percent) were the gainers.

Meanwhile top losers on the Sensex included Bajaj Auto, BHEL, ITC and NTPC. JP Morgan Securities lowered its rating on Bajaj Auto to

"underweight" from "neutral" and cut its target price to Rs 1,800  from Rs 2,060. JP Morgan cited a weakening outlook for two-wheeler growth due to rising fuel prices and high inflation.

Benchmarks soared after Europe opened in green and traders and investors scurried to pick Monday's beaten-down stocks. At 14.20 PM, the Sensex skyrocketed 254 points or 1.34% at 19131.74, and the Nifty zoomed 81.75 points or 1.43% at 5780.25.

Metal stocks, which were the favourite whipping boys of Monday, rallied fiercely but remained 30 percent to 40 percent behind their 52-week levels. Sterlite Industries and Hindalco were up 4 percent and 3.6 percent respectively, Sesa Goa appreciated 4.5 percent, Jindal Steel and NMDC were up over 2 percent each and Coal India gained 0.5 percent.

Stock price of State Bank of India remained volatile throughout the trading day and the counter was among the most active. At the time of writing this report, SBI was up 1.38 percent. Other gainers in the sector include ICICI Bank, which rallied over 3 percent. Axis Bank gained over 1 percent.

DLF held its position among Nifty gainers, rising 3.2 percent, while Prestige Estate and Godrej Properties strengthened their positions with 4.8 percent and 4 percent jump. Pantaloon too marched forward with 2.27 percent gains.

PC Jeweller has been a consistent performer for the day, rising 10 percent in mid-afternoon trade.

Key equity benchmarks continued to trade strong in afternoon trade. The BSE benchmark Sensex is up 184.55 points or 0.98 percent at 19062.51. The NSE Nifty is up 55.50 points or 0.97 percent at 5754.00.

Tata Motors  shares surged 4 percent on Tuesday as strong Jaguar Land Rover sales in the US got the street excited and there are expectations the company will report good global JLR sales for February .

Mumbai-based real estate developer Godrej Properties shot up as much as 10 percent intraday on Tuesday as the company launched BKC (Bandra-Kurla Complex) project in partnership with country's largest private air carrier Jet Airways. (full report)

The top gainers on the Sensex: Tata Motors (3.62 percent), Maruti Suzuki (2.87 percent), ICICI Bank (2.82 percent), Jindal Steel (2.71 percent) and Hindalco (2.70 percent).

Even though market has been trading steady since morning after Monday's carnage, the Nifty appears to  stay in the 5650-5800 range. At 11.01 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 91.66 points or 0.49% at 18969.62, and the Nifty up 27.00 points or 0.47% at 5725.50. Midcaps have improved their positions with growing advances.

Tata Motors strengthened its gains to 3.23 percent after the company increased prices of its sports utility vehicle range following the excise duty hike in the Budget. Bajaj Auto fell 1.6 percent weighed down by February sales numbers. The company witnessed a decline in sales of motorcycles and commercial vehicles in February compared to the same month in the previous year. Maruti Suzuki was up nearly 2 percent.

The IT pack has maintained its gain with TCS, Infosys and Wipro gaining by 1 percent each. HCL Tech was among the top Nifty gainers appreaciating almost 3 percent.

Banks have not been able to cash in on the rally al though ICICI Bank continues to trade with 2 percent gains. Indian government bonds were trading firm on hopes the RBI will announce an open market purchase of bonds. Sentiment improved after the sharp fall in the amount of money demanded by banks through the repo window, indicating strong spending by the government.

The rupee has gained in sync with the all round rise in Asian curriencies. Dollar buying by importers is expected to cap the rupee's gain at around 53.70.

Meanwhile, The HSBC services Purchasing Managers' Index, based on a survey of around 400 companies, fell to 54.2 in February from a one-year high of 57.5 in January. It was the biggest one-month fall in nearly a year.

Asian Markets: Asian markets rebounded after a sharp sell off in the previous session as most regional indices trade within sight of fresh highs. All eyes are on China's annual parlimentary meeting. In his opening remark premier Wen Jiabao reitertated the need to tighten regulations in the property sector.

US Market: US markets reversed earlier losses to end in the green with the DOW closing just shy of its record high of 2007. The US markets rebounded on the back  of comments from Fed vice chariman Janet Yellen. The manufacturing index was better- than-expected as well.

Commodities: Brent settled at $110 per barrel, gold remained rangebound at 1575 per tonne.

After a day-long consolidation on Monday, equity benchmarks opened positive led by banks, FMCG, auto and oil & gas stocks. The stock market mirrored Asian gains, which picked up momentum after the Chinese market's 3.6 percent fall yesterday. The Wall Street had closed higher in late day rally as investors resorted to the trend of buying on dips and pushing major indexes near all-time highs; Europe had closed flat.

At 09.29 AM, the Sensex was up 123.05 points at 19001.01, and the Nifty rose 34.30 points at 5732.80.

ICICI Bank surged 2 percent and was top gainer on the indices. The country's largest lender SBI rose 1 percent after it raised credit growth guidance to 21% for FY13 following surprise surge in retail and small & medium enterprises (SME) loan growth in the fourth quarter. Housing major HDFC too was up close to 1 percent. The Reserve Bank of India's statement that financial inclusion plan would be an important criterion for processing new banking licenses have been taken positively by investors.

Tata Motor too rode with over 2 percent gains after the company increased the prices of its sports utility vehicle range following the excise duty hike in the Budget. It however slashed prices of its passenger cars. Maruti recovered after Monday's steep cut. Hero Motors and  Mahindra and Mahindra were also trading in the positive terrain.

Index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 820.80 up 1.02% from its previous close of Rs 812.55. Oil India was up over 1 percent and GAIL was closing in on 1 percent upmove.

Midcaps too picked up peices after the widespread carnage in last few sessions. Ruchi Soya, Essar Oil, PC Jeweller were among the gainers while CORE Educations, Havell's India were among the losers.