Markets end at day's high

Markets ended with gains after trading in the negative zone for most part of the day. A firm opening in European stocks and recovery in IT stocks lent a helping hand. The Sensex after touching a low of 16,488 recovered 406 points. The index ended up 149 points at 16,863. Nifty was up 47 points at 5,064.

Asian markets however, edged lower. Nikkei ended at multi-year lows a 8,590 - down 2.2%. Shanghai, Seoul and Straits markets also dropped in trades. In Europe, CAC has gained 0.6% while FTSE has jumped 1% in trades. The European Central Bank is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 1.5% at its monthly policy meeting on interest rates on Thursday. The Bank of England's monetary policy is also expected to come in on the same day.

Back in India, the Land Acquisition Bill, which seeks to lay down norms for increased compensation to land owners, was approved by the Union Cabinet on Monday.

"Rate sensitives have taken a beating today as soverign debt concerns of Europe have resurfaced and also we have an impending RBI policy meet on Sept 16," said Ranak Merchant, Technical Analyst - Strategies, Sushil Financial Services.

BSE IT index recovered from a low of 4,834 and ended at 4,980 - up 1%. Earlier in the day, the sector dragged the markets down after Citigroup and Goldman Sachs downgraded stocks in light of the economic situation in Europe and US.

Among individual stocks, HCL Tech added 2.7% to Rs 395. Patni Computers, Financial Technologies and Infosys edged up around 2% each. HWipro and TCS edged up.

Market heavyweight, Reliance, was the biggest gainer and added 4% to Rs 821. RIL and ONGC, together took the Oil & gas sector 2.8% higher to end at 816.

In the current financial year through March 2012, the government plans to raise Rs 40,000 crore through share sales in state-run firms. Among these are BHEL and ONGC. BHEL advanced 2% and ONGC managed to stay above the dotted line through the day and ended at Rs 261 - up 1.6%.

The other gainers in the list were Mahindra & Mahindra, Jaiprakash Associates, Jindal Steel, Sterlite and Maruti.

BSE Realty index was the biggest loser and ended down 2% 1,747. DLF dropped 4.4% to Rs 199. Among other losers in the index were Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and NTPC.

Among other stocks, Dunlop India soared today on the news that it has put its real estate assets on the block to raise money. The stock ended at its 5% upper circuit at Rs 14.43.

A senior official close to the development said, "Dunlop is looking to sell off its land parcels across the country, which would generate good value. The first property it has put on sale is the one-acre land parcel in Worli, Mumbai. It is in a very prime location and the company is looking to raise anywhere between Rs 300-350 crore."

The BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 2,920 stocks traded, 1,636 stocks advanced while 1,169 stocks declined.