Sensex surges 5%; banking, energy and metals rally

The Sensex opened 73 points higher at 9,040 on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. The index rallied to higher levels as the day progressed on the back of aggressive buying in banking, energy and metal stocks.

The Sensex surged to a high of 9,455, and finally ended with a gain of over 5% (457 points) at 9,424.

The BSE Bankex soared 6.7% to 4,326. The Oil & Gas index flared up 6.4% to 6,775, and the Metal index surged 6.3% to 5,593.

The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,642 stocks traded, 1,629 advanced, 899 declined and the rest were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS...

Hindalco and Ranbaxy zoomed nearly 11% each to Rs 53 and Rs 161, respectively.

Tata Steel soared 10% to Rs 194. Reliance Infrastructure surged 9% to Rs 527.

HDFC rallied 8.5% to Rs 1,531. Reliance gained nearly 8% at Rs 1,443.

SBI and ICICI Bank advanced over 7% each to Rs 1,023 and Rs 346, respectively.

HDFC Bank, Reliance Communications, ONGC and Jaiprakash Associates moved up around 5.5% each to Rs 885, Rs 167, Rs 796 and Rs 84, respectively.

Sun Pharma rallied over 5% to Rs 1,090. Tata Power added 4.5% to Rs 697.

Sterlite and Bharti Airtel were up around 4% each at Rs 329 and Rs 591, respectively.

...AND THE SHAKER

DLF was the sole loser among the index stocks. The scrip ended with a loss of 3% at Rs 166.

OTHER PROMINENT GAINERS...

India Infoline and Reliance Capital zoomed over 16% each to Rs 60 and Rs 363, respectively. Bajaj Holdings soared over 14% to Rs 286.

Hindustan Copper, Bhushan Steel, Oriental Bank of Commerce, UltraTech Cement, Indian Bank, Axis Bank, Spice Telecom and Madras Cement rallied 9-12% each.

...AND OTHER LOSERS

Jain Irrigation slumpd 3.7% to Rs 325, and Koutons Retail shed 3.5% at Rs 388. GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Gujarat Petronet, Thermax, Jet Airways, Gujarat NRE Coke and EIH dropped 2-3% each.

MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS

Akruti City topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 581.60 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 249.65 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 178.10 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 154.15 crore), Educomp Solutions (Rs 133.10 crore).

Ballarpur Industires led the volume chart wih trades of around 1.79 crore shares followed by Suzlon (1.06 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (98.65 lakh), Satyam (78.90 lakh) and GVK Power (78.40 lakh).