Sensex ends with modest gains at close

Indian equities continued to gain for the second day on Thursday. The Sensex ended with modest gains today. Midcap index outperformed Smallcap index. Realty, auto, consumer durables and healthcare stocks traded higher, while metal and oil & gas declined. It opened on a strong note at 17,323.63 on back of positive Asian markets. Sustained buying was seen in index heavyweights. The index gained further ground touching a high of 17,389.15. Later it pared gains and came off from early highs to conclude on a positive note.

On global front, European stocks climbed for a second day after SAP announced a USD 5.8 billion acquisition and earnings from J Sainsbury and BT Group beat analysts` estimates. U.S. index futures advanced.

At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex gained 70.06 points or 0.41% at 17,265.87 with 21 components registering rise. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty climbed by 22.25 points or 0.43% at 5,178.90 with 35 components posting rise.

Sensex Movers

ICICI Bank contributed rise of 15.14 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Infosys Technologies (13.41 points), Tata Motors (11.34 points), Mahindra & Mahindra (10.52 points) and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (10.49 points).

However, Reliance Industries contributed fall of 21.52 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Tata Steel (7.21 points), Bharti Airtel (5.72 points), State Bank Of India (3.26 points) and HDFC Bank (3.02 points).

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Tata Motors (3.53%), Mahindra & Mahindra (3.42%), DLF (3.03%), Reliance Energy (2.73%), Jaiprakash Associates (1.99%), and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (1.74%).

On the other hand, Tata Steel (1.54%), Bharti Airtel (1.11%), Reliance Industries (0.94%), Wipro (0.53%), Hindalco Industries (0.44%), and State Bank Of India (0.38%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Mid and small caps outperformed their larger counterparts gaining 1.23% and 0.97% respectively.

The major gainers in the BSE Midcap were A I A Engineering (2.97%), Alstom Projects India (2.77%), Allcargo Global Logistics (0.61%), Ackruti City (0.46%) and Alfa-Laval (India) (0.18%).

The major gainers in the BSE Smallcap were A B G Shipyard (11.13%), Action Construction Equipment (1.34%), Provogue (India) (0.99%), Aarti Industries (0.32%) and Adhunik Metaliks (0.04%).

Sectors in Limelight

The Realty index was at 3,373.63, up by 82.14 points or by 2.50%. The major gainers were Indiabulls Real Estate (4.7%), D L F (3.03%), Anant Raj Industries (2.33%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (2.28%) and Ackruti City (0.46%).

The Auto index was at 7,888.87, up by 161.51 points or by 2.09%. The major gainers were Bharat Forge (4.19%), Exide Industries (2.72%), Bajaj Auto (2.45%), Ashok Leyland (1.87%) and Apollo Tyres (1.58%).

The Consumer Durables index was at 4,666.32, up by 60.93 points or by 1.32%. The major gainers were Titan Industries (3.68%), Bajaj Electricals (1.12%), Videocon Industries (0.49%) and Rajesh Exports (0.12%).

On the other hand, the Metal index was at 16,466.13, down by 72 points or by 0.44%. The major losers were Hindalco Industries (0.44%), Hindustan Zinc (0.36%), NMDC (0.19%), Jindal Steel & Power (0.19%) and National Aluminium Company (0.15%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was positive with 1,758 advances against 1,157 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

Bharti Airtel topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 1,335.64 million. It was followed by Bajaj Finserv (Rs. 1,282.47 million), JSW Steel (Rs. 1,051.74 million) and Tata Steel (Rs. 911.87 million).

The volume chart was led by Cals Refineries with trades of over 30.70 million shares. It was followed by Birla Power Solutions (17.69 million), Nitesh Estates (15.40 million) and I F C I (5.22 million).