May sees new peak

The Sensex closed in the positive territory for the second consecutive session led by gains in metal major Sterlite Industries, and information technology and
banking stocks. The market resumed on a strong note backed by positive global cues and strong investor appetite for heavyweights. The Sensex quickly breached 12000 levels in early trades and held on its gains. Relentless buying in front-line stocks towards the close helped the index to touch to an intra-day high of 12162, up 759 points. The Sensex finally wrapped up the session 732 points higher at 12135. Nifty closed at 3654 by adding 180 points.

The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,612 stocks traded on the BSE 1,771 stocks advanced, whereas 770 stocks declined. Seventy one stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices ended positive. The BSE Metal ended firm with gains of 8.77% while the BSE IT rose 8.40% and the BSE Bankex added 7.89%. All other indices gained 1-5% each.

Action in several index heavyweights lifted the market. Sterlite Industries led the pack and shot up by 16.56% at Rs476.80. Hindalco Industries soared by 13.74% at Rs61.25, Mahindra & Mahindra surged 13.07% at Rs549.80, HDFC flared up by 13.06% at Rs1,957.60, ICICI Bank jumped by 10.74% at Rs529.05, Tata Steel added 10.48% at Rs263, Wipro advanced by 10.35% at Rs364.60 and ITC moved up by 8.75% at Rs205.65. While, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys Technologies, Reliance Infrastructure and the remaining Sensex stocks posted gains in the range of 1-7%.

Metal stocks were the stars of the day. Hindustan Zinc shot up by 9.44% at Rs483.15, Jindal Saw soared 8.14% at Rs210.75, Steel Authority of India flared up by 7.96% at Rs118, JSW Steel added 7.49% at Rs361.75 and Nalco was up 7.33% at Rs227.10. Select IT stocks too logged sharp gains. HCL Technologies scaled up by 18.71% at Rs154.15, NIIT jumped by 12.48% at Rs29.75, Financial Technologies India added 11.93% at Rs792.05, Wipro gained 10.35% at Rs364.60 and Infosys Technologies was up 8% at Rs1629.25.

Over 7.12 crore share of Cals Refineries changed hands on the BSE followed by Unitech (3.14 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (1.21 crore shares), Infrastructure Development Finance Company (99.25 lakh shares) and Suzlon Energy (92 lakh shares).