Sensex ends up 473pts

Sensex has ended (provisional) at 16,524 - up 473 points. Nifty ends up 136 points at 4,971.
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(Updated at 1437 hrs)

Markets continued to surge in afternoon trades as risk appetite returned on expectations that European officials will be able to contain the debt crisis. After a positive start today, the Sensex has soared 444 points to 16,495. Nifty too has gained 132 points at 4,967.

Analysts, however, said the current rally was a just a relief rally and Nifty would face resistance around 5000 levels. “For the week, if the index sustains above 4870 it is positive, but I expect this bounce to fade around 5000-5025 level,” said Sahaj Agrawal, Associate Vice President - Derivatives from Kotak Securities.

In Asia, the Nikkei Stock Average rallied 3%, Hang Seng index jumped over 4% and the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.9%. In Europe, the CAC 40 index, the FTSE 100 and the DAX have advanced around 3% each.

Back home, all the sectoral indices were in the green with the  IT and realty space leading the gains. Reliance Industries, Infosys and ICICI Bank were the top gainers. The three heavyweights have contributed around 168 points on the Sensex.

IT shares are leading the gains after the recent battering as the Rupee depreciated 8 per cent in the last quarter which help boost the companies’ margins. Infosys and TCS have jumped 4% to Rs 2,448 and Rs 1,038, respectively. Wipro was up up 2% at Rs 248.

In the realty space, DLF rallied 6% to 213 on reports that it has sold 10.8 acres in Gurgaon to a Dubai-based Indian investor as a part of efforts to reduce its debt burden by a third this fiscal.

Other gainers included Jaiprakash Assoicates, Tata Motors, BHEL, Sterlite and ICICI Hindalco.

BSE market breadth continued to be fairly positive. Out of 2,810 stocks traded, 1,874 advanced and 833 declined.