Sensex ends above 17k; Nifty above 5k

The Sensex surged past the 17,000 mark at close for the first time since May 21, 2008 due to sustained buying by foreign funds in frontline stocks on hope of strong quarterly earnings. Banking and auto stocks led the advances.

It opened on a flat note with positive bias tracking subdued global cues. Later it gained ground and touched the psychological level of 17,000 on persistent buying witnessed in index heavyweights. It continued upward march and broke all the resistance levels after touching day`s high of 17,142.52. Whereas Sensex`s counterpart Nifty closed at 52 week high. Opening of positive European market also boosted the sentiment.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose 0.95% and 0.94% respectively.

European stocks rose extending the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index`s biggest quarterly rally this decade. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 10.10 points, or 0.20%, to trade at 5,170.92. French benchmark index CAC 40 increased 18.54 points, or 0.49%, to trade 3,832.45. Germany`s benchmark index DAX rose 12.91 points, or 0.23%, to trade at 5,727.36. (4.15 p.m, IST)

The Sensex ended the day with a gain of 273.93 points, or 1.63% at 17,126.84 after touching a high of 17,142.52 and a low of 16,868.46. The broad-based NSE Nifty gained 77.10 points, or 1.54% at 5,083.95 after hitting a high of 5,087.60 and a low of 5,004.35.

Major gainers in the 30-share index were State Bank Of India (5.01%), ICICI Bank (4.63%), Maruti Suzuki India (3.70%), Mahindra & Mahindra (3.46%), Sterlite Industries (India) (3.46%), and Wipro (3.30%).

On the other hand, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (1.25%), ITC (1.07%), Grasim Industries (0.73%), and Bharti Airtel (0.07%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was sharply positive. Out of the total 2,857 stocks traded at BSE, 1,598 advanced, 1,181 declined while 78 remained unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Bankex which climbed 3.69%, Auto climbed 2.13%, Capital Goods climbed 1.74%, Metal went up 1.55% and Realty climbed 1.43%, while BSE FMCG declined 0.42%, Consumer Durables fell 0.26%.