Sensex happily above 17000 mark

Indian markets further extended gains for second straight trading session on Thursday thanks to strong positive cues from the US and the Asian markets. After surging past its 200 DMA the NSE Nifty managed to recapture the 5100 levels. The BSE Sensex also went on to end above the psychological 17,000 levels. The strong upmove was seen despite a rise in country’s food price index. Food inflation for the week ended May 22 rose to 16.55%. The primary articles index was also up 16.89%, compared with the previous week's annual reading of 15.9%.

The upmove was led by the banking, telecom and the oil & Gas stocks. Even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks were in demand. Finally, the BSE 30-share Sensex surged 280 points to close at 17,022 and NSE Nifty advanced 92 points at 5,113.

In the coming day’s monsoon would have a bearing on market sentiment, "We have to see how it develops and progresses to other parts of the country. Globally, political instability in Japan and Friday's monthly jobs report in the US are some of the factors to keep a watch on", says Amar Ambani, Vice President Research IIFL.

Markets in Asia ended in the green; the Nikkei in Japan rose over 3%, Australia's S&P/ASX gained by 2.5% and while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 1.7%.

European indices were trading in the green as well, the DAX in Germany was up 1.7%, the CAC 40 index in France was up 2.4% and the FTSE in the UK was up 1.7%.

All the BSE sectoral indices ended in the green, BSE Banking index was the top gainer, the index was up 2%, followed by BSE Teck index was up 1.9% and BSE Oil & Gas index was up 1.7%. Even the BSE Mid-Cap index ended higher by 1.1% and the Small-Cap index gained 1%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Union Bank, Ashok Leyland, Nagarjuna Const and IDFC. On the other hand, losers included Renuka Sugars, Jain Irrigation, KSK Energy and REI Agro.