Sensex ends strong

The Sensex wrapped the day on a strong note led by capital goods, realty, metal and IT stocks. It opened with a gain of 56.45 points, at 14,321.98 on Friday following good global cues and continued to trade in the positive terrain in the mid noon trades. Later the index erased all its gains and fell into the negative as profit booking sets in. It traded in the negative for a short period touching a low of 14,179.77. However the index bounced back into the positive zone on sustained buying interest seen in frontliners, touching a high of 14,559.08 and positive opening of European markets.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index index rose 1.68% and 0.82% respectively.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Capital goods surged 4.58%, Realty gained 3.13%, Metal and IT rose over 2% each, Bankex and Power moved up over 1% each.

European stocks rose trimming the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index`s biggest weekly drop since March, as European union leaders said the region is on course for a sustainable economic recovery. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 70.85 points, or 1.66%, to trade at 4,351.71. French benchmark index CAC 40 rose 34.94 points, or 1.10%, to trade at 3,228.59 and Germany`s benchmark index DAX lost 4.43 points, or 0.09%, to trade at 4,843.24. (4.15 p.m., IST)

Asian stocks rose, paring the MSCI Asia Pacific Index`s biggest weekly decline since March, as better-than-estimated US economic reports boosted the dollar and Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Japanese banks. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei gained 82.54 points, or 0.85%, to end at 9,786.26.Hong Kong`s Hang Seng index jumped 144.27 points, or 0.81%, to close at 17,920.93 and China`s Shanghai Composite climbed 26.59 points, or 0.93%, to settle at 2,880.49.

The Sensex ended the day with a gain of 256.36 points, or 1.80% at 14,521.89 after touching a high of 14,559.08 and a low of 14,179.77. The broad-based NSE Nifty climbed 62.20 points, or 1.46% at 4,313.60 after hitting a high of 4,326.20 and a low of 4,206.70.

Leaders in the 30-share index were Tata Steel (5.85%), Larsen & Toubro (5.71%), Tata Motors (5.08%), Reliance Energy (5.08%), Jaiprakash Associates (4.68%), and Reliance Capital (3.90%).

On the other hand, NTPC (2.20%), Tata Power Company (1.06%), ACC (1.02%), Mahindra & Mahindra (0.55%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (0.24%), and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (0.23%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was mixed. Out of the total 2,704 stocks traded at BSE, 1,345 advanced, 1,293 declined while 66 remained unchanged.