Sensex rallies 208 points; banking stocks surge

Sensex closed with gains of 208 points at 14137 and the Nifty gained 67 points to end at 4142. Nifty April futures closed at a premium of 1 point to the spot index while May futures closed at a discount of 3 points.

Banking stocks surged ahead following the RBI policy announcement. SBI led the pack and ended 6.88 per cent higher, followed by PNB with gains of 6.81 per cent. ICICI Bank gained 3.55 per cent. HDFC Bank added 2.73 per cent and HDFC closed 2.62 per cent higher.

Among smaller banks, Canara Bank surged 9.85 per cent. Syndicate Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IDBI, IDFC and Corporation Bank were the other major gainers.

Zee Entertainment resumed its strong up trend and ended 7.81 per cent higher.

Siemens, which announced a domestic acquisition, added 5.11 per cent.

Tata Steel sustained its rally and added another 4.07 per cent.

Among autos, Maruti gained 3.79 per cent and Tata Motors closed 3.27 per cent higher.

Bharti Airtel gained ground in the afternoon and closed 3.75 per cent higher while Reliance Communications added 2.02 per cent.

Gujarat Ambuja also continued its rally and gained 3.74 per cent.
Reliance Industries gained 1.84 per cent and ONGC closed 1.33 per cent higher.

Technology stocks were under pressure today. Wipro lost 2.26 per cent and TCS ended 1.84 per cent lower. Satyam declined 1.16 per cent.

MTNL was the worst performer among Nifty constituents, with losses of 5.87 per cent. VSNL ended 1.38 per cent lower.

BHEL remained weak throughout the session and ended 1.69 per cent lower.

Among metals, SAIL corrected 1.51 per cent.

Glaxo, Grasim and Gail were the other major losers.

Global markets / crude oil
US markets saw a modest correction yesterday, following the sustained rally during the previous week. Though announcement of the Barclays-ABN Amro-Bank of America deal generated some interest, higher interest rates acted as a dampener.

The Dow closed with losses of nearly 0.35 per cent while the S&P 500 index gave up close to 0.25 per cent. NASDAQ ended more than 0.1 per cent lower.

Many Asian markets ended lower as stocks corrected after the sustained rally over the last few sessions and the decline in US indices yesterday. Singapore lost 0.4 per cent while Malaysia ended 0.3 per cent lower. Indonesia declined 0.25 per cent while Thailand and Japan ended with modest losses.

Korea sustained the up trend and added 0.8 per cent while Shanghai added 0.35 per cent. Hong Kong ended with modest gains.

European markets opened lower and have slipped further as the session progressed. Major European indexes are trading with losses of between 0.3 per cent and 0.65 per cent each in afternoon trading.

Crude oil prices surged to nearly $66 per barrel yesterday on concerns about supply disruptions in Nigeria. Near month NYMEX futures ended around 2.5 per cent higher $65.89 per barrel yesterday and has corrected modestly in European trading today.

Large-cap news flow

Mid-Cap Action
Mid-caps and small caps also gained ground today. The CNX Mid-cap index gained 51 points, or 0.98 per cent, to end at 5216. The BSE mid-cap index gained 0.75 per cent and the BSE small cap index closed 0.47 per cent higher.

Hinduja TMT got listed after the de-merger of the BPO division. The stock opened at Rs880 per share on the NSE, but declined and settled at Rs598.7.

Momentum buying was visible in a large number of mid-cap stocks. Ramco Systems ended at 20 per cent upper circuit. Trigyn, STI India, Garware Wall Ropes, Somany Ceramics, Cyber Media, Peninsula Land, Autoline India, Eicher Motors and Tulip IT were all locked in 10 per cent upper circuits.

ARO Granite, JBM Auto, Hanung Toys, Educomp, Wendt India, Quintegra, Macmillan India and Advanta were the major losers among mid-cap and small-cap stocks.

Mid-cap news flow

Thomas White Global Research, part of the Thomas White International Group, publishes capital market research for global institutions and investment banks.

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