IIP numbers, FM speak propel markets

The Sensex opened 44 points higher at 16,687, led by positive global cues. And from thereon, it was a one-way street

The benchmark indices traded in a narrow band throughout the morning, giving no indication of what was to follow.

Meanwhile, the IIP (Index of Industrial Production) for the month of August 2009 rose 10.4% as against 6.89% in the previous month.
The factory output registered a strong growth on a year-on-year basis and the manufacturing output stood at 10.2% as against 1.7% a year earlier. And Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee added to the optimism by indicating that recovery was in process and higher growth was on the cards.

And as if on cue, the markets spurted in the afternoon. The Nifty crossed the 5,000 mark again and the Sensex surpassed the psychological 17k mark, spurred by gains in consumer durables, IT and banking.

The Sensex finally ended at 17,036, up 384 points and the Nifty closed at 5048, up 108 points. State Bank (higher by 5.16% at Rs 2,172), Reliance Infrastructure (stronger by 5% at Rs 1,357 and Wipro (higher by 4.7% at Rs 575) were in the limelight on the Sensex. ITC, TCS and Reliance were the other notable gainers, adding between 3% and 4% each. Hero Honda, Reliance Communications and  BHEL registered marginal losses of up to 1% each.

On a day like this, the market breadth was predictably strong. Out of 2,827 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,629 advancing stocks as against 1,105 declines.

Reliance topped the value chart on the BSE, with a turnover of Rs 343.79 crore followed by SBI (Rs 233.59 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 174 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 119.30 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 118 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 55.53 million shares  followed by Ispat Industries (11.60 million), Austral Coke (9.83 million), Unitech (7.57 million) and Dish TV (6.44 million).