Markets maintain winning streak

Private banks, RIL, Infosys lead gains

After the sharp surge yesterday benchmark share indices continues their winning streak on Thursday, amid firm global cues, led by gains in private banks and index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys.

The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 223 points or  1.3% at 16,677 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 58 points or 1.2%
at 5,055.

_________________________________________________

(Updated at 14:37 hrs)

Markets contimue to hover around the day's high thus far as index heavyweights, Reliance Industries and Infosys along with financials helped to keep the uptrend intact. The Sensex was up 203 points at 16,657 while the Nifty gained 54 points at 5,051.

The Sensex had touched an intra-day high of 16,665 so far.

In the broader markets, the midcap and the smallcap indices up 0.6% each underperformed as compared to the BSE benchmark index which gained over 1%.

In the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei average rose on speculation that euro zone leaders would take policy action to curb the spread of the region's debt crisis, with a softer yen lending additional support. The Nikkei advanced for the third day, gaining 1.2% to 8,640. Hong Kong shares rose tracking the bounce in regional markets, as investors bought into beaten-down blue chips on monetary stimulus hopes. Hang Seng gained 0.8% along with Kospi Composite which closed up 2.5%

European shares extended gains after the ECB on Wednesday maintained its status quo on keeping policy rates unchanged. Major European markets like CAC, DAX and FTSE added 0.3-0.5%.

Back home, rate sensitives like Bankex, Realty and Auto indices advanced 1-2% along with Power, Metal, Oil & Gas and Capital Goods. However, Consumer Durables lost ground and was down 0.6%.

Index heavyweight, Reliance Industries rose 1% after Mukesh Ambani announced in its 38th Annual General Meeting today that the company plans to invest Rs 1L cr in the next four yrs, doubling the operating profits.

The top gainers among the Sensex stocks were Sterlite, Maruti Suzuki, DLF, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC and ICICI Bank up 2-4%

Wipro, TCS, Hindalco and Gail India down 0.5-1.6% were the only scrips in the negative.

The market breadth remained positive. 1455 stocks advanced while 1098 stocks declined on the BSE.