Sensex pulls off hat-trick...Nifty closes above 5500

Just when one thought the Indian markets would see a gap-down opening, tracking overnight sell-off in the US and Asian markets, comes yet another strong pullback - third in a row. The benchmark Indian equity indices showed strong resilience and witnessed a smart rally throughout the day. Sustained buying was seen in index heavyweights like ONGC, L&T, Maruti, Axis Bank and M&M.

Banking stocks led from the front. Public sector oil companies' shares were in action, with stocks like ONGC, HPCL, IOC and BPCL gaining over 3% each. Today’s upswing was accompanied with commendable volumes, as the total market turnover crossed Rs. 1.7 lakh crores mark. Strong FII inflows in the past couple of sessions also influenced the rally today.



"India was perhaps by the top gainer in Asia today even as the world markets remain jittery over Greece's precarious financial health and an apparent slowdown in the United States. European markets were trading marginally higher though and US stock futures also advanced.

The three-day rally was mostly powered by short covering ahead of this Thursday's F&O expiry. Its anybody's guess whether this upswing is just a relief rally or there is still some more steam left in it. One must be careful and be vigilant as volatility is on the rise," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL - India Private Clients.

The BSE Sensex ended at 18,412 adding 172 points. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18,494 and a day's low of 18,133. It opened at 18,132. The NSE Nifty closed at 5,530 adding 59 points.

Outside the index, the major gainers were Videocon Ind, Oil India, Asian Paints, United Phos and OFSS. Among the major losers were Bhushan Steel, Titan, Chambal Fert and HMT.