Rally continues; Sensex closes 260 points higher

The Indian markets stood strong for the second consecutive day. The Sensex rose 260 points and the Nifty surged 81 points.

Major headlines

Q1FY12 GDP at 7.7% vs 9.3% yoy

ONGC plunges on share sale nod

Q1 GDP growth disappointing: FM



Indian indices

Markets remained strong in today’s trade led by rally in the metal, realty, banking and technology stocks. Q1FY2012 GDP data came in line with Street estimates, which boosted investor sentiment. RIL, DLF, Tata Steel, Jaiprakash Associates, HDFC Bank, TCS and Infosys were the positive contributors to the Sensex. Good global cues also led the upmove. The markets closed higher for the second day, with the Nifty crossing 5000 level for the first time in the past eight sessions. The Sensex touched the 16700 mark.

Sensex movements: The Sensex started the trade 169 points higher at 16585 and remained strong in the morning session. In early afternoon trade, the index erased almost all its gains and touched the day’s low of 16443. Then the positive opening of the European equities alongwith continuous buying in metal, realty, banking shares pushed the Sensex to hit the day’s high of 16715 in late trade. The Sensex rose 260 points to close at 16677 and the Nifty stood at 5001, up by 81 points.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth stood positive. Of the 2,944 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,841 (62.53%) rose, 976 (33.15%) fell and 127 (4.31%) stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Barring BSE FMCG down by 0.32%, all the sectoral indices ended higher. BSE Metal outperformed the sectoral indices, surging by 3.74% followed by BSE Realty up by 3.62% and BSE Bankex rose by 2.24%. Remaining sectors gained in the range of 0.13-2.08%.

In 'A' group stocks, top gainers - Manappuram Finance up by 14.81%, Sesa Goa rose by 9.88% and Pipavav Shipyard surged by 8.43%. Top losers - Bajaj Finserv down by 5.30%, SKS Microfinance declined by 4.98% and ONGC fell by 4.29%.

Viewing volumes

Industrial finance company - IFCI was the top traded share, with over 0.66 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that India's second largest developer - Unitech (0.50 crore shares), Indian shipbuilder - Pipavav Shipyard (0.39 crore shares), a major Indian telecommunication company - Reliance Communications (0.35 crore shares) and wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.32 crore shares).

Global signals

The European stock markets rose on Tuesday, with banking stocks displaying a strong performance amid upbeat news surrounding the financial sector, together with sentiment-boosting comments last week on further possible stimulus from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The Asian equities ended higher on Tuesday, with resources and banking shares among the best performers, as investors showed more appetite for riskier assets in the wake of strong US equity gains. However, Shanghai Composite and Jakarta Composite closed lower.

The US stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on the Wall Street on Tuesday.

Market Outlook: US Consumer Confidence Level will be released on Tuesday.