V-day on Dalal Street...Nifty ends above 5450

Colour red has a special significance on Valentine's Day. But thankfully, market participants on the Indian bourses saw mostly green on their trading screens today. It was a lovely day for the equity markets in India, as bulls extended the relief rally to a second consecutive trading session on the back of all-round buying.

With this, the NSE Nifty has managed to recover over 5% in just two days, ending above 5450 today. On the other hand, the BSE Sensex managed to recapture the 18,000 levels.



Today’s rally was led by Capital Goods, Auto, Metals and Banking stocks. The Mid-Cap and Small-Cap index outperformed the benchmark indices as investors snapped up stocks that had been battered in the recent slide.

"Firm global cues, exit of Egypt’s autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak and the subsequent drop in oil prices helped lift market sentiment today. If it wasn't for subdued oil & gas heavyweights - RIL and ONGC - the Sensex and Nifty would have seen bigger gains. Separately, the markets chose not to react to the January inflation numbers, says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

Eventually, the Sensex surged by 474 points or 2.7% to end at 18,202 and the Nifty jumped by 146 points or 2.75% to shut shop at 5,456.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Capital Gods index was the top gainer, the index gained 5.2%, BSE Auto index was up 3.8% and BSE Metal index was up 3.5%. Even the BSE Mid-Cap and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 3.5% and 4% respectively.

JaiPrakash Associates,L&T, Tata Motors, BHEL, Jindal Steel, SBI, SesaGoa, Tata Steel, Suzlon, Axis Bank were the major gainers in the Sensex.and Nifty.

DLF,RCOM, Siemens were the loser in the Sensex and Nifty.

In Asia, most markets finished solidly higher, with the Chinese benchmark pacing the regional rally. The Shanghai Composite index jumped 2.5%. Others in Japan, Australia, South Korea, Hang Seng and Singapore gained more than 1% each.

The European markets were trading flat with a positive bias, the FTSE index was flat, CAC index was modestly up by 0.2% and DAX index was up 0.3%

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were United Spirits, NFL, TVS Motors, Tech M and Educomp. On the other hand, losers included Godrej Cons, Sintex Ind, Glaxo Pharma and DB Realty.