Sensex ends 358 pts up; metals shine, MCX rises 26%

The BSE Sensex staged excellent performance on Friday, trimming the major loss for the week as it had shed nearly 500 points in the previous three sessions. Successful completion of the debt swap deal by Greece with market participation at 95.7% helped the global markets to rally.

Short covering may be another reason that fuelled the rally. The BSE benchmark advanced 357.72 points or 2.09%, to close at 17,503.24 supported by 23 stocks. Meanwhile, the NSE benchmark gained 113.10 points or 2.17% at 5,333.55.

Rate sensitives saw huge buying interest ahead of monetary policy review (schedule to be announced on March 15) and even market experts see some action as industrial output dropped to 1.8% in December as against 5.9% in previous month. RBI governor D Subbarao too said they need to reduce bank's statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) going forward. "Number of preconditions need be met before SLR can be cut," he said.
 
Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange ( MCX ) closed at Rs 1297.05 on listing day, up 25.68% over issue price of Rs 1032 after hitting an intraday high of Rs 1,426 and low of Rs 1,282.10. In first one-hour session, equilibrium price for the stock was discovered at Rs 1,387 on the BSE.

Greece averted the immediate risk of an uncontrolled default, winning strong acceptance from its private creditors for a bond swap deal which will ease its massive public debt and clear the way for a new international bailout. European markets already priced in this news in last two sessions as they were flat while Asian markets like Nikkei, Shanghai, Hang Seng and Kospi ended 0.8-1.65% higher.

Back home, the BSE Metal Index outperformed other sectors, rising 4.7%. Tata Steel and Jindal Steel shot up nearly 7% while Sterlite Industries gained 4.66%. Coal India and Hindalco were up 2.5%.

The BSE Bankex and Capital Goods indices moved up 3.7%. SBI and ICICI Bank, country's largest lenders, rallied 6.22% and 3.8%, respectively while rival HDFC Bank gained 1.5%.