FII flows help indices close above crucial levels

Sentiments turned bullish after strong buying by FIIs lifting the Sensex and the Nifty to close above 19000 and 5700 levels respectively

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Indian indices

It was a sixth straight day gains for the Indian markets. The Sensex rose nearly 1300 points or 7% in six days, outperforming its global counterparts. Strong buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) played a prime role in helping the key indices to touch new intraday highs. Buying was witnessed in all the sectors, with technology, auto and metal leading the upmove. The Sensex closed above the 19000 mark and the Nifty above the 5700 level.

Reliance Communications, Maruti Suzuki, DLF, Bharti Airtel and Tata Power were the top Sensex gainers. BHEL and ICICI Bank were the only losers.

The Sensex began the session on a quiet note, up by 6 points at 18950 and immediately hit the day's low of 18945. In no time, the index moved upwards from the lower level and maintained its strong trade for the remaining part of the day. Trading higher, the index hit the day's high of 19226 in afternoon session on buying in all the sectors. The Sensex settled at 19121, up by 178 points and the Nifty surged by 49 points to close at 5736.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood in favour of declines. Of the 3,035 stocks on the BSE, 1,116 rose while 1,818 declined. Whereas, 101 stocks closed unchanged.

Viewing volumes

India's largest public sector hydroelectric power producer - NHPC was traded the most, with over 1.69 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.85 crore shares), industrial finance company - IFCI (0.52 crore shares), realty major - D B Realty (0.49 crore shares) and India's Number 2 mobile carrier - Reliance Communications (0.36 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the 13 sectoral indices ended the session on a positive note. BSE Auto was the major gainer advancing by 1.53%, followed by BSE TECk up by 1.35%, while BSE Metal and BSE Information Technology (IT) rose by 1.08% and 1.06% respectively. Rest of the sectors ended higher in the range of 0.11-0.86%.

Among 'A' group stocks, D B Realty was the star performer surging by 19.96%, followed by Corporation Bank up by 6.34% and Mphasis advanced by 5.54%. Among the laggards, Piramal Healthcare slid the most by 6.17%, followed by Tech Mahindra down by 4.44% and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers dipped by 3.91%.

Global signals

Falls in peripheral banks led European shares lower on Tuesday after Italian lender UBI Banca announced a capital hike, though analysts said the deal could help restore longer-term confidence in the sector.

All the major Asian indices ended lower on Tuesday except Kospi up 0.77%. Shanghai Composite and Nikkei fell by 0.86% and 0.21% respectively.

The US stock index futures point to a higher opening on the Wall Street today (Tuesday).

Market Outlook: US Consumer Confidence Index for March will be out today.