Markets end on a high note

The markets have ended on a good note following the stable Asian and European markets. The Sensex shut shop at 19,594, up 177 points and the Nifty added 56 points at 5,884.Earlier in the day, the markets opened higher on back of positive cues from Asia, Sensex opened higher by 150 points at 19,573 and the Nifty surged 50 points to 5877 in opening trades.

On the international front, the world indices clocked weekly gains for the third consecutive week. Following positive cues from the US, Asian indices mostly traded in the the green and ended on a high note. Nikkei and Hang Seng ended higher, by over 1% each, and Shanghai Compisite ended flat, up 0.3%. Banking stocks in Hong Kong and Shaghai were under pressure on concerns of possible interest rate hike from  People's Bank of China to curb rising inflation.

In the broader markets, the midcap index closed at 1.4%, outperforming the benchmark index and the smallcap index at 0.9%. The movers in the midcaps were Ispat Industries up 17%, Bhushan Steel, Texmaco and Indusind Bank gaining 6% each. In the smallcap space,Delta Corporation gained 19% followed by Hinduja Foundaries at 16% and Astral Polysters adding 13%.

Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, Consumer Durables topped the charts at 2% closely followed by Health Care, Oil & Gas and Metal. Earlier,at the start of the trade Consumer Durables opened at the bottom of the chart. Auto and Realty which opened at the top saw some profit booking to slip as the day progressed.

With regards to banking, one of the stellar performers in the past few days, the index was up 94 points at 13,744. Macquarie in a reserach note said, "Hike in rverse repo rate will keep the shorter end of the yield curve high, thereby keep in liquidity deficit mode - negative for Non-Banking Finance Companies." Deposite rates are likely to rise faster than lending rates as credit growth is yet to take off, hence expect more pressure on Net Interest Margin of  PSU banks verses private sector banks, Macquarie added in a research note.

The gainers in the Sensex-30 stocks were Reliance Communications (Rs 166) up 5%, ACC (Rs 997),Bharti Airtel (Rs 357) gaining 3%, index heavyweight RIL (Rs 1026) adding 2.5%.Sterlite, TCS up 2%,Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Hindalco gaining 1.5% are the other siognificant gainers.

On the losers list on the Sensex were HDFC,Wipro,BHEL down nearly 1% followed by SBI,NTPC and ONGC shedding 0.1% - 0.2% round off the list.

The market breadth was positive. Of the total 3103 stocks traded on the BSE, 1802 stocks have advanced while 1169 have declined.