Nifty hits 23 month high, Sensex ends above 19700

Key indices ended near day's high as the U.S. House of Representatives approved a deal on the fiscal cliff, sparking broad-based buying. The Sensex rose 133 points while the Nifty shut shop 42 points higher. Headlines for the day: Elecon Engg bags order from NMDC TRAI slashes cable landing charges by 50% BofA-ML revises target price of Tata Motors Union Bank alters FCNR deposits rates Indian Indices: Today, the Indian equities witnessed an extremely strong trading session, the Nifty hit 6000 mark for the first time in 2013, while the Sensex rallied over 19700 led by buying interest in rate sensitive stocks and other sectors. The Indian markets carried forward yesterday's rising trend and ended the second trading session of January 2013 on a strong note. The market breadth was also encouraging for the investors. The total market turnover was at the highest level of Rs3.92 lakh crore. The NSE Nifty touched 23-month high and closed at highest level since January 07, 2011. Movement of the Indian indices for the day: The Indian markets closed on a positive note in today's trade owing to cheerful trading in global markets. Today, the Indian indices stayed higher throughout the day owing to gains in index heavyweights which helped the markets to remain on an upbeat mode. All the sectors were on the buyer's radar except IT and FMCG. The key Indian stock indices accelerated further in the late morning deals, with the NSE Nifty hovering around the 6,000 mark and the BSE Sensex up over 150 points amid broad-based buying. Later, the Nifty touched a high of 6,006, breaching the 6,000 mark for the first time in two years and the Sensex saw a high of 19,757. The rally in Indian Indices also came from strong European cues. The broader markets too ended trade on a positive note. The BSE Midcap index rose by 0.56%, while the BSE Smallcap index was up by 0.90% in trade today. Adding further, the Nifty today breached the 6000-mark for the first time in nearly 23 months on broad based buying after the US House of Representatives approved a rare tax increase, averting the fiscal cliff. The BSE Sensex ended above 19,700; highest since January 07, 2011. On currency front, the Indian rupee rose by 37 paise to trade at fresh two-week high of Rs54.31 against the US dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange. The rise was due to increased dollar selling by exporters and banks amid sustained foreign capital inflows. The Sensex ended at 19714.24, up by 133.43 points, while the Nifty shut shop at 5993.25, up by 42.40 points. Following are the stocks/ sectors which were in news today: 1. Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited ended 2.38% higher as the government imposed 35% safeguard duty on electrical insulators imported from China. 2. Bajaj Auto gained 3.07% after the company said that its total sales in December increased 13% year-on-year to 343,946 units, due to higher demand for motorcycles and rise in exports. 3. KEC International secured new orders worth of Rs1,511 crore in its transmission, power systems and cable business from India, Oman, Nepal and Americas. The stock closed 5.71% higher in trade today. 4. PC Jeweller surged 6.27% in today’s trade, extending its previous day’s over 10% rally on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Market sentiment: The market breadth stood in favor of advances. Of the 3101 stocks traded on the BSE, 1797 (57.95%) rose, 1166 (37.60%) fell and 138 (4.45%) stocks remained unchanged. Sectoral & stock screening: All the 13 sectoral indices closed in the green zone except IT and FMCG which were the only losing sectors down by 0.07% and 0.26% respectively. Top Gainers- BSE CD up by 1.65%, BSE CG rose by 1.40%, BSE Oil&Gas was up by 1.29% Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- Gitanjali Gems rose by 8.09%; Videocon Industries up by 6.47% and JP Infratech surged by 5.73%. Top three losers were- Torrent Power declined by 1.99%, Colgate Palmolive was down by 1.90% and IPCA Labs fell by 1.83%. Global signals: Asian stock markets rose on Wednesday after the US House of Representatives passed a deal to stave off the so-called fiscal cliff. European shares rose across the board at the start of the new year after US lawmakers approved a deal to prevent a fiscal crunch that had threatened growth in the world's largest economy. US stocks were poised to rally on Wednesday in their first session of the New Year after lawmakers passed a bill preventing huge tax hikes and spending cuts that threatened to jeopardize economic growth.