Markets shrug off global cues to end firm

The markets recovered in late trades to end firm, ignoring the weak cues emanating from the US and Asia. The Sensex recouped around 230 points from the day's lows to end at 17509, higher by 87 points and the Nifty closed at 5235, up 25 points. Information technology stocks traded strong for the second consecutive day, while the metal and realty counters bounced back towards close.

The US markets had dropped overnight, with the Dow weakening by 37 points and the Nasdaq shedding 30 points. And Asian stocks fell for the first time in four days after a decline in the commodity prices and the decision by the People's Bank of China to increase the CRR by 50 bps after five quarters of an easy monetary policy.

Meanwhile, in a pre-Budget interaction with state finance ministers, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said there was enough wheat and rice stocks and proposed open market sale to offload these stocks and thereby increase foodgrain availability and ease prices.

ACC was the top gainer on the Sensex, strengthening by 5.3% at Rs 946. Cement makers are reportedly set to hike the prices by Rs 3-5 per 50 kilogram bag from Friday in the northern, southern and western markets on the back of improved demand.

Infosys and TCS hit new 52-week highs at Rs 2686 and Rs 788 respectively on follow-up buying after IT bellwether Infosys raised earnings and revenue guidance for year ended March 2010.

Oil marketing companies rose after crude oil prices declined over 2% on the New York Mercantile Exchange. IOC strengthened by more than 2% to Rs 324, while BPCL and HPCL added around 1% to Rs 631 and Rs 386 respectively.

And Bajaj Auto gained nearly 1% at Rs 1712 after reporting good Q3 results on the previous evening.

On the other hand, M&M was the top loser on the Sensex, weakening by nearly 3% at Rs 1194. Sun Pharma, Sterlite and SBI lost more tha 1% each at Rs 1549, Rs 862 and Rs 2177 respectively.

The market breadth was strong. Out of 2969 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1694 advancing stocks as against 1195 declines.

Infosys topped the value charts on the BSE with a total turnover of Rs 182.31 crore. This was followed by Reliance (Rs 180.57 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 170.99 crore), SBI (Rs 111.06 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 100.91 crore).

GTL Infra led the volume charts with trades of 15.02 million shares. It was followed by Ispat (10.24 million), Suzlon (8.11 million), Unitech (7.27 million) and IFCI (5.75 million).