Sensex rallies 312 points on firm global cues

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Under exclusive arrangement with Thomas White International
Strong gains across other Asian markets helped domestic Indian indexes to sustain Friday's momentum and close with significant gains. Traders and investors remained positive about corporate earnings expectations for the last quarter. The rally was once again very broad-based, led by cement, metals and oil & gas.

Sensex closed with gains of 312 points at 13696 and the Nifty rallied 96 points to end at 4013. The Sensex has gained close to 600 points in just two sessions while the Nifty has added nearly 200 points. Nifty April futures closed at a discount of 6 points to the spot index.

Cement stocks were among the best performers today on expectations of good quarterly numbers. ACC rallied 4.94 per cent while Grasim impressed with gains of 3.94 per cent. Gujarat Ambuja ended with gains of 3.41 per cent and Ultratech Cemco gained 3.95 per cent.

Suzlon Energy soared 7.69 per cent and was easily the best performer among Nifty stocks. The stock has made impressive gains ever since it announced a hike in its offer price to acquire German company RE Power.

Zee Entertainment resumed its up trend and rallied 6.6 per cent.

Tata Steel also resumed its rally and closed 4.56 per cent on expectations of higher steel prices. SAIL closed with gains of 1.67 per cent. Among other metal stocks, Sterlite Industries gained 4.01 per cent and Hindalco closed 3.14 per cent higher.

ONGC sustained the up trend from Friday and added another 3.19 per cent while Reliance Industries gained 3.24 per cent.

Technology stocks gave up a good part of their morning gains. Wipro added 3.18 per cent while Infosys closed 2 per cent higher. TCS gained 1.45 per cent ahead of its results announcement today evening.

Among telecom stocks, Reliance Communications rallied 4.01 per cent

Tata Power had another good day and ended 3.62 per cent higher

HLL also sustained its rally and closed with gains of 3.34 per cent while ITC added 3.29 per cent.

Siemens was the worst performer among Nifty stocks, closing 1.82 per cent lower.

Satyam Computer started on a firm note, but lost ground and ended 0.42 per cent lower

Nalco gave up 0.73 per cent while HDFC Bank lost 0.64 per cent
ABB and Sun Pharma closed with marginal losses

Global markets / crude oil
Asian markets had a very good day after the mixed trend on Friday. Shanghai led the region with gains of over 2.2 per cent, followed by Hong Kong, which ended over 2 per cent higher. Japan gained more than 1.5 per cent while Singapore and Indonesia added around 1.2 per cent each. Malaysia gained 1.1 per cent and South Korea closed 0.75 per cent higher.

European markets were firm in opening trades and are holding on to their gains. Major European indices are trading with gains of between 0.5 per cent and 0.7 per cent each in afternoon trades.

Crude oil prices are firm today after the previous week's modest decline. Near month NYMEX futures are trading with gains of over 40 cents per barrel at above $64 per barrel in European trading today.

Large-cap news flow

Mid-caps and small caps also extended their gains from last week, but gains were once again lower than large caps. The CNX Mid-cap index gained 75 points, or 1.5 per cent, to end at 5099. The BSE mid-cap index gained 1.6 per cent and the BSE small cap index closed 1.89 per cent higher.

ICRA, which more than doubled on listing on Friday, continued its rally and closed at 20 per cent upper circuits. Orbit Corporation, another new listing last week, added 11.39 per cent.

Prime Focus and Broadcast Initiatives also closed at 20 per cent upper circuits.

Among mid-cap technology stocks, Bluestar Info added 14.09 per cent while Cambridge Technology gained 13.91 per cent.

Blue Bird, Lumax Autotech and Tata Tele Maharashtra were the other major gainers among mid and small-caps

Deccan Aviation came under profit booking after last week's gains and closed 5 per cent lower.

Among other prominent mid-caps, Bajaj Hindustan lost 4.96 per cent

IVP, K Sera Sera, India Infoline, Shree Precoated, CMC, Orient Press and Softpro were the other major losers among mid-cap and small-cap stocks

Mid-cap news flow

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