Upmove continues, Sensex sizzles past 15,650

Action continued on Dalal Street for the second straight session as the market brushed aside the flat Asian market trend. Overnight surge in global crude oil prices also failed to dampen the sentiment. The Sensex opened 8 points lower than its last close at 15,396 and touched the day’s low of 15,358 in early trades. However, the emergence of strong buying by mid-morning trades saw the index erase most of its loss and touch an intra-day high of 15,733, up 337 points from the yesterday's close of 15,396. Renewed buying, particularly, in the old economy heavyweights held the market firm thereafter and the Sensex ended the session with gains of 301 points at 15,697. The Nifty moved up 81 points to close at 4,653.

The market breadth was fairly positive. Of the 2,764 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,800 stocks advanced, 884 stocks declined and 80 stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices ended in positive territory. The BSE Bankex index rose 4.29%, the BSE Realty gained 3.89%, the BSE Oil & Gas index added 2.25%, the BSE PSU was up 2.17%, the BSE CG was up 2.15% and the BSE CD was up 2.01%.

Leading the rally, HDFC zoomed 5.99% at Rs2,298.05. While Maruti Suzuki India soared nearly 5.22% at Rs755.60, HDFC Bank flared up 4.87% at Rs1,207.55. ONGC advanced 4.77% at Rs884.45, State Bank of India added 4.57% at Rs1,387.05, Jaiprakash Associates moved up 4.51% at Rs187.60 and Reliance Infrastructure was up 4.13% at Rs1,104.65.

Bankex stocks rallied sharply on strong buying support. Indian Overseas Bank raised 8.49% to close at Rs114.35. Axis Bank rose 7.89% at Rs794.20, Kotak Bank moved up 7.45 at Rs679. Federal Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank, Canara Bank and Union Bank moved up 5-6% each.

Value wise, Anu’s Laboratories registered a turnover of Rs449 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs194 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs180 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs162 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs127 crore).