Markets end on a cheerful note

The bulls came out with all guns blazing. After being at the receiving end of the stick in the recent past, the bluechips propelled the Sensex within kissing distance of the 16500 mark. The Sensex finally ended at 16,496, stronger by 332 points, and the Nifty closed at 4930, up 100 points. There was green across the screen, with metals, realty and consumer durables being in the limelight.

The domestic markets had begun on a firm note, thanks to the positive cues from the US and Asia. And there was no looking back from thereon as the indices rose steadily to end at the day's high. The strong housing and earning data had catapulted the US stocks and Asian stocks had risen in unison. Short-covering would have also contributed to the day's rally, given the build-up in short positions during the recent corrective phase.

The follow-on public offer (FPO) of state-run power generation company NTPC opened for bidding and the response was heartening. The offer was subscribed 61 per cent within the first two hours. The issue received bids for over 25 crore shares against 41.22 crore on offer, according to the data available with the National Stock Exchange. The government currently holds an 89.5% stake in NTPC and plans to dilute 5% through the FPO. The stock of the power major ended the higher by Rs 3 or 1.8% at Rs 209 on the BSE.

Sterlite was the leading gainer on the Sensex, strengthening by 5.9% at Rs 780. Tata Steel added 4.9% at Rs 600 and L&T was higher by 3.8% at Rs 1449. HDFC, Hindalco and ITC were the other prominent gainers. And index heavyweight, Reliance added 0.7% at Rs 1033. Sun Pharma was the only Sensex loser, shedding 1% at Rs 1499.

In the mid-cap space, Blue Dart strengthened by 7% at Rs 650, while Core Projects and United Breweries added 6% each at Rs 209 and Rs 161 respectively. And in the small-cap space, Shree Ashtavinayak hit the 20% upper circuit at Rs 27, Inox added 11% at Rs 85 and Zodiac added 8% at Rs 430.

The market breadth was strong. Out of 2921 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1769 advancing stocks as against 1054 declines.

Reliance topped the value charts on the BSE with a total turnover of Rs 164.77 crore. This was followed by SBI (Rs 162.56 crore), Reliance (Rs 91.45 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 89.28 crore) and L%T (Rs 85.77 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume charts with trades of 13.17 million. It was followed by Unitech (6.47 million), IFCI (6.25 million), Ispat (5.24 million) and Suzlon (4.80 million).