Sensex up 240 pts on tax numbers

Metal, banking, realty stocks lead rise; Nifty just shy of 4,900.

Buoyed by strong advance tax numbers, the key benchmark equity index, Sensex, today gained 240.26 points, or 1.48 per cent, to close at 16,477, its new 52-week high.

Positive global cues aided the rise. A survey by the National Council of Applied Economic Research, the New Delhi-based think-tank, showing an improvement in business confidence in India, added to the positive sentiment.

The broader index S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up 83.50 points to 4,892.10.

“Advance tax numbers have been quite positive and helped the index gain towards the end of the day. Banking stocks and capital goods gave a fillip to the markets. If the uptrend continues, the Nifty is likely to go to 4,950-5,000,” said Monal Desai, vice-president & head of institutional equities at Mumbai-based Prabhudas Lilladher.

According to the provisional figures, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks worth Rs 776.10 crore.

Among index stocks, DLF was the top gainer. It was up 5.20 per cent. Hero Honda was up 3.47 per cent, Sterlite rose 3.34 per cent and Hindalco gained 3.30 per cent.

Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Communications, State Bank of India, Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Steel, HDFC and ICICI Bank advanced between 2 per cent and 3 per cent. ONGC, Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Unilever were the only marginal losers today.

All BSE sectoral indices ended in green. Among the top gainers, the BSE Realty index was up 3.91 per cent. The BSE Metal index gained 3.74 per cent, the Bankex was up 2.50 per cent while the BSE Auto index was up 2.33 per cent.

The market breadth was extremely positive. Out of 2,873 shares traded, 1,801 advanced (62.69 per cent), 994 declined (34.60 per cent) and 78 were unchanged (2.71per cent) on the BSE. The BSE mid-cap and small cap indices put up a good show and were up 1.83 per cent and 1.33 per cent, respectively.

US markets rose on Monday on the back of merger activities, boosting investor sentiment. The Dow Jones added 0.22 per cent and the Nasdaq moved up 0.52 per cent. The Asian markets ended on a mild note. The Seoul Composite and the Taiwan Weighted index were up over 1 per cent each. The Hang Seng, on the other hand, was down 0.31 per cent and the Straits Times was flat.