Sensex up for 3rd day, ends 226 points higher

The Indian markets stayed higher all throughout the day and ended the session on a positive note. The Sensex up 226 points and the Nifty up 70 points
Headlines for the day
Disinvestment target for 2012-13 at Rs30,000 cr: FM
Coal India likely to hike price in April-June
SBI has no plans to lend more to Kingfisher: FM
Biocon hits 52-week low as Pfizer scraps insulin deal



Indian indices
The Indian markets closed in the green zone for the third straight day. Continuous buying across the board boosted sentiment, with major support coming in from metal, oil & gas, realty, power and capital goods stocks. Positive global cues also aided rally.
The Sensex ended 226 points higher at 17814 and the Nifty stood at 5430, up by 70 points.
Market sentiment
The market breadth stood in favour of advances. Of the 3056 stocks traded on the BSE, 1712 (56.02%) rose, 1215 (39.76%) fell and 129 (4.22%) remained unchanged.
Viewing volumes
Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy was traded the most, with over 1.37 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that an integrated infrastructure development company - Lanco Infratech (1.36 crore shares), a real estate development company - HDIL (0.46 crore shares), a major Indian telecommunication company - Reliance Communications (0.40 crore shares) and an infrastructure holding company - GMR Infrastructure (0.37 crore shares).
Sectoral & stock screening
All the sectors closed in the green zone. The top most gainers are BSE Metal up by 3.01%, BSE Oil & Gas up by 2.60% and BSE Realty up by 2.11%. While other gainers closed in the range of 0.11-1.52%.
Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers — Manappuram Finance gained by 13.70%, United Breweries jumped by 13.24% and GMR Infrastructure rose by 12.46%. Top three losers – Biocon fell by 6.31%, Shree Cement dipped by 2.11% and Bharat Forge down by 1.99%.
Global indices
The European shares gained on Tuesday (March 13, 2012) on hopes German and U.S. data will fuel expectations of an economic recovery and of no fresh stimulus moves from the Federal Reserve later in the day.
The Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday as banks and commodity-linked stocks climbed on positive cues from U.S. equities.
The US stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday.
Market Outlook: Data releases in the US on Tuesday — Retail Sales, FOMC Meeting Announcement and Business Inventories.