Bulls on U-turn

Today's major news

Bharat Electronics to get Rs4,279-crore contract from the Indian Air Force (IAF) for Akash missiles; the stock rises 2.74%

Wipro Consumer Care likely to buy Tura; the stock surges 2.65%

Infinite Computer Solutions lists at Rs178.35

Inox hits 52-week high on Fame India acquisition; the stock jumps 11.74%

Larsen & Toubro upbeat on winning second order in this week; the stock rises 3.80%

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Post-market summary

Global signals

The European indices opened weak on the back of disappointing results by Electrolux and Roche. At the time of writing this report FTSE 100 was up 0.32%.

All the major Asian indices closed higher. Shanghai Composite closed above 3000 levels. SGX Nifty surged 101 points.

US stock futures opened marginally lower, as investors eagerly await data on Challenger job cuts, ADP Employment change, ISM services data and crude inventories data.

Indian indices

Bulls that were trounced badly yesterday were back with vengeance today. On the springboard of strong global cues and on hopes that the government may delay the withdrawal of stimulus package coupled with tremendous buying in index heavyweights, metal and realty stocks, the bulls drubbed the bears today. The Sensex that opened 47 points higher at 16210 (the day’s low) extended its gains as the session progressed to touch the day’s high of 16553. At closing bell, the Sensex closed at 16496, 333 points higher. Nifty closed at 4932, 102 points higher.

Market sentiment

The market breadth, the number of advancing shares to declining shares, was positive. Of the total 2,921 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,775 stocks advanced, whereas 1,046 stocks declined. Hundred stocks closed unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

With the bulls charging ahead all along the day, it was all green on sector indices fronts. The BSE Metal topped the chart with gains of 4.01% followed by the BSE Realty that gained 2.81% and the BSE CD surged 2.63%.

On stocks' front, JSW Steel surged the most—by 8.44%—followed by Reliance Natural Resources, which rose 7.95%, and Sterlite Industries that jumped 5.97%. On the losers’ list, Spice Communications topped with a loss of 5.84%, followed by Jain Irrigation, which slid 1.42%, and Marico, which fell 1.22%.

Viewing volumes

Reliance Natural Resources saw the highest trading with over 1.31 crore shares changing hands on the BSE followed by realty major Unitech (0.64 crore shares), industrial finance company IFCI (0.62 crore shares), Ispat Industries (0.52 crore shares) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (0.48 crore shares).