Bulls follow global cues

Markets continued Wednesday's good run and ended with more than a per cent gains.

The Sensex opened in the green on positive cues from global markets. Brushing off a slightly dampening inflation data that came in around noon, the index surged past the 17K mark. It touched a high of 17,073  - crossing the psychological mark after 11 trading sessions.

The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 280 points (1.6%) at 17,022.

The NSE Nifty ended at 5,111 - up 91 points (1.8%).

US markets ended in the green on higher home sales data. The Dow was up 2.2% at 10,249.The Nasdaq gained 2.6% at 2,281.

Asian markets also rose today. The Hang Seng added 1.6% to 19,786. Nikkei surged 3.2%.

The food price index rose to 16.55 per cent in the year to May 22, government data showed on Thursday, higher than the previous week's annual reading of 16.23 per cent, following a rise in vegetable prices.

All sectoral indices were in the green. The bankex rallied 2% to 10,687. TecK, oil and IT indices were up over 1.5% each.

Metal stocks rose on strong US economic data. The BSE metal index added 1.3% to 14,825.

Reliance Communications continued Thursday's stellar show and surged 6.3% to Rs 164.

Hindustan Unilever gained 4% at Rs 247. Tata Motors and HDFC Bank rallied 3% to Rs 767 and Rs 1,906, respectively.

Sterlite and Hindalco were up 2.5% each at Rs 651 and Rs 146, respectively. Jindal Steel added 1% to Rs 634.

Auto stocks pared early gains. Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra added 1.5% each to Rs 1,296 and Rs 583, respectively.

PSU stocks were in green. ONGC and NTPC advanced over 2% each to Rs 1,210 and Rs 202, respectively. Market heavyweight, reliance, jumped 2% to Rs 1,031.

Other prominent gainers included ACC, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Jaiprakash Associates and DLF.

BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 2,949 stocks traded, 1,901 advanced while 939 declined.

Value & Volume Toppers

Sesa Goa topped the value chart with aturnover of Rs 142.70 cr, followed by Reliance Communications (Rs 133.26 cr), Tata Steel (Rs 119.95 cr), SBI (Rs 83.90 cr) and Tata Motors (rs 77.50cr).

The volume chart was led by FCS Software with trades of 15.41million shares, followed by Reliance Communications (8.24 million), IFCI (7.83 million) and RNRL (6.55million)