Sensex ends above 20,000...Nifty tops 6,000

After spending most of the week in a tight range the key Indian stock indices finally gave investors something to cheer about ahead of the Christmas weekend. Though the price action wasn't something to write home about but the day's gains were certainly better compared to the lackluster trend seen in the previous few sessions.



ADAG stocks were on fire and RCOM surged by 10%. Tyre stocks gained after the Government decided to cut the import duty on natural rubber.

Public sector oil marketing companies came under some pressure after crude oil prices moved past the US$91 per barrel mark.

In other market action, sugar stocks advanced after reports that futures trading in the commodity will resume on Monday. A whole host of other individual stocks climbed on favourable news flow.

The BSE Sensex closed at 20,073, up 90 points over the previous close. It had earlier been as high as 20,086 and as low as 19,880 after opening at 19,911.

The NSE Nifty rose 31 points to end at 6,011, up 0.5% after opening at 5,940. It earlier touched a day's low of 5,940 and day's high of 6,017.

The best part about today's session was that the advance was across the board, with the broader market also participating in it. The BSE Small-cap index and the BSE Mid-cap index gained ~0.3% each.

The market breadth was positive with 1,573 shares rising and 1,263 shares falling on the BSE.

In terms of sectors, indices for Consumer Durables, Metals, FMCG and Pharma rose anywhere between 1-2%. Power, Realty and Capital Goods indices rose 0.5-1%. IT, Banking and Oil & Gas indices were subdued while the Auto index lost ~ 0.5%.

The key indices started the day at the day's low and then turned a bit higher before slipping into a rangebound trend. The breakout for the day came around 1:00 PM after which the market managed to sustain the momentum and closed near day's high.

RCOM, Reliance Infra, Sterlite, Hindalco, ITC, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, HUL, HDFC Bank, NTPC, L&T, Cipla, Tata Power, DLF, Wipro, Hero Honda, Siemens, Sun Pharma and Suzlon were among the gainers in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Tata Motors, BHEL, ICICI Bank, ONGC, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, BPCL, IDFC, SAIL and Cairn India were among the laggards in the Sensex and the Nifty.

BF Utilities, Godrej Cons, Bajaj Hind, JUBL FOOD, Reliance Media, Kiri Dyes, MVL, HCL Infosystems, Nagarjuna Fert, EID Parry and Sun Pharma were among the notable gainers in the broader market.

Outside the two main indices, the key losers were Koutons Retl,Simplex Infra, Shree Ashtavina, Ballarpur Inds, Jindal Poly, Tata Motors, Provogue India, Jain Irrigation, JMD Telefilms, Asian Paints and Jet Air India.

In global action, most markets in Asia finished lower, led by Japan and China. Stock benchmarks also declined in Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea while the Straits Times in Singapore managed to buck the negative trend.

In Europe, markets in Germany and Spain were shut for Christmas holiday while trading activity was fairly light in the UK, France and other parts of the region. Most markets that are open for trading will close after half day.

Financial markets in the US will also remain shut today for Christmas.