Market rallies past 17,000 after initial crash

The Sensex commenced 62 points lower at 16,691 and plummeted below 16,650 mark on relentless selling to touch the day's low of 16,626. However, resumption of buying in late morning trades saw the index drift into positive territory and gain strength thereafter. The market witnessed a sharp pull back after short covering by investors triggered a major rally in heavyweight, metal, IT and CD stocks. Recovery in other major Asian indices like Hang Seng and Straits Times followed by Nikkei, Kospi and Jakarta coming off their early slump also helped the market turnaround from its early crash. The Sensex breached 17,000 levels in noon trades to touch an intra-day high of 17,015 before selective selling saw it came close to slip below the 17,000 mark. However, renewed buying towards the fang end ensured the Sensex move past 16,950 mark and end the session with a surge of 225 points at 16,978. Nifty rose 54 points to close at 5,012.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Metal index led the surge with gains of 4.36% at 16,435 followed by BSE IT index (up 3.80% at 4,427) and BSE CD index (up 3.19% at 3,487). However, the BSE PSU index, the BSE Oil & Gas and BSE FMCG were the losers. The market breadth was postive. Of the 2,749 stocks traded on the BSE 1,395 stocks advanced, 1,266 stocks declined and 88 stocks ended unchanged.

Out of 30 Sensex stocks, 22 managed to end in the green, while 8 stocks ended with losses. Tata Consultancy Services was the leading gainer and soared 7.09% at Rs969.95, Hindlaco advanced 6.86% at Rs192.30, Infosys moved up by 4.53% at Rs1,826.30, Tata Steel jumped 4.12% at Rs886.35, Maruti shot up by 3.13% at Rs797.20, Bharti Airtel added 3.31% at Rs848.40 and Reliance Energy was marginally up at Rs1,424.55. Other major gainers like HDFC rose 2.74% at Rs2,731.10, JP Associates gained 2.57% at Rs259.75, Reliance Communications scaled up 2.50% at Rs559.30, Grasim Industries moved up 2.14% at Rs2,266 and Ranbaxy Laboratories was up 2.09% at Rs495.25. Among the laggards ONGC dropped 5.85% at Rs938.80, ACC shed 2.30% at Rs667.30, Ambuja Cement declined 1.93% at Rs109.40 and Mahindra & Mahindra lost 1.58% at Rs656.15.

Metal stocks were the star performers, ahead of the credit policy. Hindustran Zinc vaulted 17.14% at Rs733.85, Hindalco flared up 6.86% at Rs192.30, Jindal Steel jumped 6.07% at Rs2,310.30, Sterlite Industries scaled up 4.70% at Rs815, Bhushan Steel spurted 4.60% at Rs789.15, Sesa Goa soared 4.39% at Rs4,138 and Tata Steel was up 4.12% at Rs886.35. Among the IT stocks NIIT, I-Flex, HCL Techno, Tech Mahindra, Rolta and Mphasis were up 2-5% each.

Over 7.90 crore Aishwarya Telecom shares changed hands on the BSE followed by IFCI (1.72 crore shares), Idea Cellular (1.52 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.48 crore shares) and Reliance Petroleum (1.31 crore shares).