Sensex upbeat, closes above 17K

Today's major news

Thermax bags Rs477-crore worth of order; the stock rises by 3.63%.

Jindal Drilling bags Rs635-crore worth of order; the stock surges 10.42%.

A US company buys 69% stake in NDTV arm; the stock shoots 7.46% up.

Gammon Infrastructure secures Rs850 crore National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) contract; the stock rises 10.81%.

Edelweiss inks pact with Tokio Marine Holdings; the stock ends 0.86% higher.

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Post-market summary

Global signals

Today, European stocks that opened marginally positive are currently trading stronger with close to 0.50% gains with banking stocks shining.

Major Asian indices closed mixed. Taiwan Weighted dipped the most posting loss of 1% and BSE Sensex surged the most with 1.41% gains. SGX Nifty that opened flat and slipped to the low of 4933 ended the highly volatile day with strong gains of 76 points.

With no major economic indicators to be out today, US markets may remain range-bound and traders will be on a lookout for any company specific events.

Indian indices

After lacklustre opening, Sensex remained in red amidst high volatility for the major part of the day. However it recovered 386 points from its day’s low of 16636. The bellwether opened 13 points lower and slipped from that point by over 400 points in a day before closing above the important psychological level of 17K.

It went to touch the high of 17041, before closing at 17022 that is higher by 1.41% or 236 points. Such bounce-back was possible owing to buying that returned in banking, oil & gas and metal space. Strong opening of European markets helped Nifty to reclaim the strong 5050-level and end the day at 5052, up 63 points.

Sensex sentiment

The market breadth was fairly positive, as out of 2,790 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,452 stocks advanced, whereas 1,240 stocks declined. Ninety-eight stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Out of the 13 sectoral indices, all sectoral indices, except BSE CD indices that slid 1.35%, ended in green. BSE Bankex topped the list with gains of 1.95% followed by BSE OIL & GAS that rose 1.52%. The remaining indices closed 0.08% to 1.37% higher.

On stocks’ front, Jubilant Organosys topped the chart surging by 9.44% for the day to be followed by UCO Bank (up 7.96%) and Syndicate Bank that rose by 7.93%. Jaiprakash Hydropower, Andhra Bank and Allahabad Bank were up by over 5% each. Among losers, Welspun Gujarat slid the most by 3.76%, followed by Balrampur Chini that fell by 3.18%, Suzlon Energy that shed 2.93% and United Phosphorus that was down by 2.88%.

Viewing volumes

On turnover front, Over 2.81 crore shares of Suzlon Energy changed hands on BSE followed by Unitech (1.30 crore shares), HDIL (0.62 crore shares), Ispat Industries (0.56 crore shares) and IFCI (0.46 crore shares).