Sensex cracks double ton...Nifty closes above 5500

The Indian market put the losses of the previous session behind and resumed the post-Budget upswing after the Congress and the DMK softened their tough stance and reopened dialogue on the contentious seat-sharing issue for the Tamil Nadu elections.

Over the weekend, the DMK had said that it would withdraw all its Union Ministers but chose to defer the same after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tried to salvage the situation.



Reports today suggested that a meeting between the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and DMK leaders MK Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran was inconclusive.

DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said in Chennai that the stalemate between Congress and his party has not yet been resolved and added that talks are still on.

The BSE Sensex ended at 18,439, up 217 points, or 1.2%, compared to the previous close. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18,466 and a day's low of 18,266. It had opened at 18,277.

The NSE Nifty, on the other hand closed at 5,520, up 57 points, or 1%, over the previous close. It had hit an intraday high of 5,530 and an intraday low of 5,564. It had opened at 5,466.

In terms of sectors, all the BSE sectoral indices ended in the green with IT, Metal, Banking, Realty, Consumer Durables and Auto indices rising by over 1% each. Oil & Gas, PSU, Pharma and Power indices gained 0.5-1%. Capital Goods and FMCG indices were more or less muted.

The market breadth was decisively in favour of the bulls today with 1,777 shares advancing and 1,059 shares declining on the BSE.

Sentiment in the Indian market also improved after crude oil futures fell for the first time in three days amid media reports that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has offered to step down from his position.

Gaddafi has hinted that he is ready to quit Libya after being in power for four decades, provided the rebel interim council gives him cash, a safe passage out of the country and assures immunity from criminal prosecution, media reports said.

Reports also said that key members of OPEC, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Nigeria, are lifting oil output to reign in spiraling oil prices. Production increase by OPEc members would make up the shortfall in supplies out of Libya, which is currently wracked by a civil war.

Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Suzlon, Tata Motors, ONGC, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, JP Associates, Ranbaxy, Tata Steel, Sesa Goa, DLF and Reliance Capital were among the notable gainers in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Cairn India and Hero Honda were the only notable losers in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Gujarat Flurochemicals, Tech Mahindra, Arshiya Intl, Spicejet, Polaris Software, Jindal Poly, Kiri Dyes, Parsvnath Developers, IFCI, Tata Global Beverages, Lanco Infra and Mcleod Russel were among the notable gainers in the broader market.

Outside the two main indices, the key losers were Gujarat Industries Power, DB Realty, IL&FS Transportation, Himadri Chem, Greaves Cotton, Anant Raja Inds, Indosolar, Power Finance, Patel Eng, Bajaj Holdings and Oberoi Realty.

Asian markets also seemed to be okay after the fall in oil prices and reports of a possible end to the hostilities in Libya.

The key European stock indices opened higher on news that oil prices were retreating from a 29-year peak but were trading off the day's lows.