Sensex closes 200 points higher after 2-day fall

It was a highly volatile session, with the Sensex ending 200 points up and the Nifty rose 53 points

Major headlines

Nalco rises on govt nod to mine coal block in Orissa

Sesa Goa hits record low on mining ban report

Mphasis soars on clarification



Indian indices

The Indian markets swung between gains and losses in the first half of trade due to muted global cues. In the second part of trade, the markets got some support from the positive European equities. Buying in oil & gas, power, metal, capital goods and FMCG stocks further boosted the sentiments. Index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ITC, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC and ONGC led the advance. Today it was a relief rally for investors as markets closed higher after two straight day of losses.

Sensex movements: The Sensex opened the session 14 points higher at 16156. The index remained highly volatile in the first half of trade, moving in positive and negative zones. Selling in banking and IT stocks dragged the index to day’s low of 16046 in late morning trade. The index gathered pace in the afternoon session on European support and strong buying in oil & gas, metal and power space to hit the day’s high of 16370. The Sensex rose 200 points to close at 16342 and the Nifty settled at 4899, up by 53 points.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth stood positive. Of the 2922 stocks traded on the BSE, 1803 (61.70%) rose, 1018 (34.84%) fell and 101 (3.46%) remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Only two sectoral indices fell out of 13. Top gainers - BSE Oil & Gas shot up by 2.47%, BSE Power surged by 2.04% and BSE Metal advanced by 1.91%. Two losers - BSE IT down by 0.59% and BSE Bankex fell by 0.14%.

In 'A' group stocks, major gainers - Mphasis up by 10.30%, Shree Renuka Sugars rose by 10.01% and National Aluminium Co. surged by 8.85%. Major losers - Aurobindo Pharma down by 8.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services declined by 3.94% and Gail India fell by 3.31%.

Viewing volumes

Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy was traded the most, with over 0.36 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.28 crore shares), one of the largest listed real estate companies in India - Indiabulls Real Estate (0.26 crore shares), a Jaypee Group firm - Jaiprakash Associates (0.19 crore shares) and sugar company - Shree Renuka Sugars (0.16 crore shares).

Global indices

The European stocks were trading up on Monday, finding support in the oil and gas sector with decent results helping gains, while investors took the opportunity to pick up some bargains following sharp declines last week.

The Asian markets closed on a lower note on Monday except Hang Seng.

The US stock index futures signal positive opening on the Wall Street on Monday.