Santa smiles on Dalal Street

Indian markets rose to record levels for the calendar year backed by strong liquidity. Hopes of strong economic and corporate growth have also been the driving factor for the markets.  The Finance Minister's announcement, yesterday,  of keeping the stimulus till Budget has been the latest booster for the sentiment.

Markets opened with a positive gap on firm Asian cues. However, the Nifty slipped into the red, and remained subdued for the greater part of the trading day as investors started booking profits.

However, fresh fund buying saw the Nifty rebound smartly to a new calendar year high of 5,198. The index finally ended at a fresh 2009 closing high of 5172 - up 34 points. The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) so far this year have pumped in Rs 80,500 crore in domestic equities.

The Sensex, helped by auto and metal stocks, gained 129 points to 17,361. Through the calendar year the Sensex has surged 80% while the Nifty has jumped 75%.

The BSE auto index advanced 1.5% to 7,356. The metal index was up 1.4% at 17,334.

Auto stocks ruled the roost. Tata Motors surged 4.5% to Rs 780. Mahindra & Mahindra and Hero Honda advanced 2% each to Rs 1,061 and Rs 1,735, respectively.

Metal stocks shone in trades for the third straight day. Hindalco jumped 3% to Rs 158. Tata Steel added 2% to Rs 616. Sterlite moved up 1.5% to Rs 859.

Among other gainers, ITI soared 11% as the government planned to revive the company. Nagarjuna Construction company jumped 4% on the cabinet's decision to spend $20 billion on road construction.

Jet Airways added 2% on fund raising plans through share sale. Glenmark Pharma moved up as subsidiary company received USFDA nod for a new drug.

However, Jaiprakash Associates dropped 2% to Rs 144. Bharti Airtel slipped 1.5% to Rs 321.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,989 stocks traded 1,598 advanced while 1,253 declined.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS...

Tata Steel topped the value chart on BSE with a turnover of Rs 210.14 crore, followed by Tata Motors (Rs 123.65 crore), Zandu Pharma (Rs 113.75 crore), Suzlon (Rs 104.96 crore) and Reliance (Rs 104.26 crore).

The volume chart was led by IFCI with trades of over 13.38 million shares, followed by Suzlon (11.86 million), Austral coke (11.13 million) and NHPC (9.70 million).