Sensex extends rally, closes 185 points higher

Markets carried previous session’s gains and remained strong all throughout the day, with the Sensex up 185 points and the Nifty up 58 points

Major Headlines

ITC consolidated net profit soars 20% in FY11

Higher subsidy burden drags OIL, ONGC, GAIL

IRB Infrastructure falls after posting results



Indian indices

The Indian markets were on an upswing helped by gains across the globe and buying in capital goods (CG), auto, power, realty and pharma stocks. Index heavyweight Larsen & Toubro (L&T) continued to shine after posting healthy results, supporting the markets. Political uncertainty pulled the market off highs after a sharp intraday surge after reports filtered in mid-afternoon trade that a court has ordered arrest of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( DMK) party MP Kanimozhi in the 2G scam spectrum case. The oil & gas stocks were in action after the government hiked the contribution of upstream oil companies towards fuel subsidies.

The broader markets like BSE Smallcap and BSE Midcap were up 0.49% and 0.61% respectively and underperformed the Sensex.

The Sensex opened 59 points higher at 18200 tracking positive Asian peers and quickly hit the day’s low of 18161 in initial trade. The index edged higher led by gains in frontline stocks like L&T, HDFC, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank and hit a high of 18429 in the afternoon trades. But profit booking seeped in during the last leg of the day in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector after ITC reported earnings. The Sensex settled at 18326, up by 185 points and the Nifty rose 58 points to close at 5486.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood strong with 1,534 shares rising and 1,286 shares declining. While 129 stocks traded unchanged.

Viewing volumes

India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech was traded the most, with over 0.35 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by a multi-business conglomerate - ITC (0.35 crore shares), the leading manufactures of trucks and buses in India - Ashok Leyland (0.31 crore shares), a Jaypee group firm - Jaiprakash Associates (0.24 crore shares) and wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.28 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the sectoral indices ended in the positive territory except BSE FMCG down by 0.85% and BSE PSU fell marginally by 0.01%. BSE CG was the major gainer for the second consecutive day, surging by 2.31%. Following that BSE Auto rose by 1.37% and BSE Healthcare (HC) up by 1.34%. Other sectors rallied in the range of 0.27-1.32%.

Coming to 'A' group stocks, Voltas was the star performer, surging by 6.70%, then comes Ashok Leyland up by 5.25% and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) jumped 4.69%. Among losers, Sun TV Network fell the most by 3.02%, followed by Jindal Saw down by 2.92% and Jain Irrigation Systems lost by 2.80%.

Global signals

The European markets rose on Friday, with BP leading the energy sector up after a partner agreed to pay it more than $1 billion towards the cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The Asian markets closed mixed on Friday. The Nikkei index edged lower in thin trade, while Hang Seng index inched higher.

The US stock index futures point to a flat opening on the Wall Street on Friday.