Sensex cracks double ton...Nifty surpasses 5500

The Indian markets started off a new trading week on a positive note, as bulls put up a stellar show despite nagging concerns on inflation and its impact on monetary policy. Today’s strong rally in India was witnessed despite a 6% cut in Japan’s Nikkei index following the deadly earthquake and tsunami that rattled the nation on March 11.

The Japanese shares nose-dived, notwithstanding the BOJ's move to inject US$86bn to stabilize the financial markets. The central bank also decided to expand its asset purchase programme to shore up the economy. But, other Asian markets managed to avert a steep fall with the Hang Seng index and the Shanghai Composite ending in the green.



Today’s run-up was led by Oil & Gas and Metal shares, followed by IT, Banking and Power stocks. All the BSE sectoral indices closed in the positive territory now. The frontline stocks clearly outperformed their smaller peers today but the market breadth was still positive.

"Market players seemed to ignore a marginal rise in inflation for February. India’s inflation rose to 8.31% in February as against 8.23% in the previous month. Market had expected inflation to come in at 7.8%. This means that the RBI will most likely hike its key policy rates by another 25 basis points on March 17. Investors should also keep a close eye on the overseas events, particularly in Japan, the Middle-East and eurozone," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIF

The BSE Sensex gained 282 points to end at 18,456 and the NSE Nifty gained 86 points to close at 5,532.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Oil & Gas index was the top gainer, the index gained 2.1% followed by BSE Metal index adding 2%, while, BSE Banking index gained 1.5%. BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.5%, while the BSE Small-Cap index added 0.5%.

In Asia, the Nikkei stock average in Japan plunged by 6.2% following the deadly earthquake and Tsunami of March 11 even as fears of a possible nuclear disaster loomed large. But other Asian markets managed to escape a sharp selloff, with markets in China and Hong Kong actually rising.

The European markets were trading flat, the FTSE index was flat, CAC index was almost unchanged and DAX index was down 1%.

Reliance Capital, RCOM, BPCL, GAIL, Reliance Infra, Tata Steel, Tata Power, RPower, RIL, JP Associate, SAIL, Axis Bank, Ranbaxy, NTPC, Cipla and Sterlite were among the notable leaders in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Suzlon, ONGC, Siemens and Hero Honda were among the notable laggards in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Jet Airways, Ashok Leyland, GSPL and Union Bank. On the other hand, losers included DB Realty, Areva T&D, P&G and CESC.