Sensex rallies 160 pts, IT stocks lead

The markets had recovered in the noon deals and were trading higher on  back of buying in technology, consumer durables, capital goods and realty stocks. The Sensex was at 16,502, up 161 points and the S&P CNX Nifty gained 49 points to 4,947.

Earlier in the day, the Sensex opened higher but soon slipped into the red and touched the low of 16,213.

According to Ranak Merchant, Technical Analyst - Strategies, Sushil Financial Services, "Both the benchmark indices have crucial support points at 15,960/4,786. The markets have managed to honour them till now, and if it holds to these levels then a relief rally till the previous double bottoms of 17,246/5,167 can be expected in the next few sessions."

Meanwhile, the European markets also opened on a firm note which has helped Indian markets to showcase a recovery. The DAX opened at 5,543, up 69 points, CAC 40 index was at 3,105, higher nearly 2% and the FTSE also added 1.25% to 5,158.

Back home, Bajaj Auto was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stock jumped 7.6% to Rs 1,540. J P Associates added 6% to Rs 63 and Bharti Airtel was also trading higher by 5% at Rs 403. Jindal Steel and TCS also surged 4% each in intra-day deals thus far. Infosys, BHEL, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever were also trading higher by 1-3% each.

On the other hand, Cipla, Coal India, ONGC, ITC, Tata Motors, NTPC and DLF were among the losers.

Technology stocks are on the buzzer today, The BSE IT index had advanced nearly 3% or 131 points to 4,840 and the Teck index has also surged 2.5% to 3,106. Consumer Durable, Capital Goods, Realty, Bankex and Auto indices were also trading higher. At the same time, FMCG and PSU indices were among the notable sectoral losers.

The broader markets were also trading higher. The BSE mid-cap index was up 56 points at 6,259 and the small-cap index was at 7,188, up 76 points.

The overall breadth was positive as 1,584 stocks advanced while 872 stocks declined.