Market rallies past 16800

The market registered another solid performance on strong all-round buying, despite major Asian indices exhibiting a subdued trend. After Sensex made a firm opening at 16800, the market did send jitters among investors in early trades. However, good buying ensured that Sensex remains in the positive territory thereafter. Information technology stocks boosted investor confidence and the market witnessed a steep rally in heavyweights, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), realty, auto and banking stocks, lifting Sensex above 16900 mark to an intra-day high of 16943. Sensex finally ended the session 145 points higher at 16886, while Nifty advanced 44 points to 5020.

Advancing shares outnumbered the declining shares by 1.38:1. Of the 2,862 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,605 stocks advanced, whereas 1,176 stocks declined. Eighty one stocks ended unchanged. All the 13 sectoral indices bar BSE Oil & Gas closed higher. BSE IT topped the list rising 1.91% followed by BSE FMCG (up 1.63%), BSE Realty (up 1.02%).

Among gainers, HDFC soared 5.30% to Rs2667.40. Tata Consultancy Services jumped 2.92% to Rs600.85. Tata Motors surged 2.60% to Rs614.50, ITC added 2.59% to quote at Rs233.30, Infosys Technologies advanced 1.77% to Rs2405.60, HDFC Bank moved up by 1.50% to Rs1,546.45, State Bank of India gained 1.41% to trade at Rs2,172.55, Hindustan Unilever was up 1.28% to Rs264.50, Wipro soared 1.28% to Rs575.50 and Maruti Suzuki India advanced 1.12% to Rs1,659.20. However, Bharti Airtel shed 3.28% to trade at Rs428.10, Jaiprakash Associates down 2.67% to Rs250 while Hindalco Industries, ONGC, Sterlite Industries and Reliance Industries ended marginally lower.

Reliance Natural Resources were the most actively traded scrip with over 1.19 crore shares changing hands on BSE followed by Suzlon Energy (1.14 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.12 crore shares), Tata Teleservices (0.74 crore shares), Unitech (0.74 crore shares) and IFCI (0.73 crore shares).