Sensex surges in late trade…Nifty reclaims 5500

The Indian markets suddenly sprung back to life in the last half and hour after languishing in the red zone for most part of the day. The IT, Oil & Gas and the Metal stocks led from the front. Buying in the index heavyweights like Wipro, TCS, ONGC and Reliance Industries lifted the NSE Nifty above the 5500 levels.



Even the broader indices which were down over 1% each also recovered from their intra-day lows and closed nearly unchanged.

In global action, most Asian markets ended in the red, but, the Chinese market gained 1% despite Friday’s 50bps hike in reserve ratio. European markets slipped after opening flat. While, the US markets will be closed today on account of the Presidents day holiday.

“The sharp turnaround in late trade might have taken many by surprise. This also goes to show underlying volatility in the market. The F&O expiry coupled with weekend break before the Union Budget could add to the intra-day gyrations. As a result it would be prudent on the part of market participants to wait for the a clear trend before taking a call on the near term direction on the market”, says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex surged 227 points to end at 18,438 and the NSE Nifty rose 60 points to close at 5,519.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE IT index was the top gainer, the index gained 2.8%, BSE Teck index was up 2.1% and BSE Consumer Durables index was up 2%.

The European markets were trading in the red, the FTSE index was down 0.3%, CAC index was down 0.7% and DAX index was down 0.6%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Petronet LNG, NFL, Mphasis, Titan and Apollo Tyres. On the other hand, losers included EIH, Jet Airways, Jai Corp and DB Realty.