Sensex surges on L&T results...ONGC, ITC drag

The main Indian stock indices accelerated on Friday, extending the gains from the previous session, with the BSE Sensex zooming by nearly 200 points and the NSE Nifty touching the 5500 mark in intraday trading on the back of sustained gains in select index bellwethers.

The market breadth was favourable as the broader indices managed to register decent gains. Barring, Oil & Gas, PSU and FMCG, all the other sectoral indices on the BSE were in the positive territory.



The BSE Sensex closed at 18,326, up 185 points or 1% over the previous close. While, NSE Nifty finished at 5,484, up 56 points from the last close.

L&T, Cipl,a Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, Reliance Infra, DLF, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, M&M, HDFC Bank, IDFC, Sun Pharma, Reliance Power and Ranbaxy were among the notable leaders in the Sensex and the Nifty.

ONGC and ITC were the top losers followed by Ambuja Cement.

Shares of ONGC, Oil India and Gail India lost ground after reports said that the Centre had increased their share of the oil subsidy in FY11 to 38.7% from 33%.

FMCG major ITC fell after its Q4 results failed to impress the market. Meanwhile, all ADAG shares rebounded today after falling in the past two trading sessions.

The BSE Small-Cap index and the BSE Mid-Cap index were up 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

BSE Capital Goods index was the top winner, buoyed by solid gains in L&T. It was up 2.3%. BSE Auto, Pharma, Power, Realty and Banking indices gained 1% or more.

The BSE FMCG index was dragged down by ITC. The PSU and Oil & Gas indices declined owing to weakness in ONGC, Oil India and Gail India.