Markets catapult higher on GDP numbers

The markets ended with a bang, thanks to strong GDP numbers and assurances by the UAE government on providing additional liquidity facility to the lenders of Dubai World. The Sensex closed at 16,926, higher by 294 points, and the Nifty re-gained the 5k mark to close at 5026, up 84 points, in a steady day of trade. The Sensex had surpassed the 17,000 mark (17,096) in intra-day trades, but was unable to sustain above the mark.

The economy grew by 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal, up from 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter due to a good showing by industry and services sector.
 
The manufacturing sector grew 9.2% in the second quarter vi-a-vis 5.1% a year earlier. Financing, insurance, real estate, and business services rose by 7.7 per cent against 6.4 per cent.

The Planning Commission said the projections for the entire 2009-10 financial year may have to be revised upward. And the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed confidence that the economy would grow by over 7 per cent in this financial year.

Importantly, the United Arab Emirates central bank, on Sunday, soothed frayed nerves worldwide by guaranteeing emergency liquidity for banks that could face losses from a prospective default by Dubai World. Global markets were rattled last week after the government in Dubai, part of the UAE, sought a debt rescheduling for flagship conglomerate Dubai World.

The Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai rallied more than 3%.

The leading Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel (stronger by 5.6% at Rs 2990, Tata Steel (higher by 5.6% at Rs 575) and Jaiprakash Associates (firmer by 5.2% at Rs 225). Tata Motors and Hindalco gained between 3% and 4% each.

The top losers on the Sensex were Hero Honda (shed 1.4% at Rs 1,720), Maruti (weaker by 0.5% at RS 1,555) and SBI (lower 0.1% at Rs 2,238).

The market breath was strong. Out of 2,824 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 2,017 advancing stocks as against 733 declines.

Tata Steel led the value charts with a turnover of Rs 230.78 crore, followed by Suzlon at Rs 176.31 crore, SBI at Rs 170.37 crore, HDIL at Rs 163.84 crore and DLF at Rs 99.34 crore.

Suzlon topped the volumes list, clocking trading volumes of 22.70 million shares, followed by IFCI at 16.22 million, Unitech at 11.45 million, HDIL at 5.04 million and Tata Steel at 4.05 million.