Terrific Thursday: Nifty soars 56 points on reform euphoria

The market closed at a 17-month peak as financials, FMCG, oil & energy, infra and realty stocks rallied.

Investors went on a buying spree on sector specific shares ahead of a meeting of Union Cabinet, which in the evening gave a fresh push to economic reforms by opening the pension sector to foreign investment and raising FDI cap in the insurance sector.

After a strong start, the key index kept moving up on the back of aggressive buying and briefly re-visited the important 5,800 level before encountering some profit-taking.

Pharma, auto and select metal stocks missed out on the rally along with some second line counters.

On the global side, Asian markets ended higher on the back of bullish US economic data though uncertainty over Spain's possible request for full scale sovereign bailout amid growing concerns about the state of global economy continued to shake market sentiment. The European counterparts witnessed volatility ahead of ECB's rate decision.

The 50-share Nifty eventually finished at 5,787.60, a level not seen since April 27, 2011, after hitting an intra- day peak of 5,807.25, clocking a handsome gain of 56.35 points, or 0.98 per cent.

BHEL, DLF, JP Associates, BPCL, ICICI Bank, Ambuja Cement, Axis Bank, ITC, Dr Reddy's and SBIN were the top percentage-wise Nifty gainers. The notable laggards included Cipla, Lupin, Ranbaxy, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, Ultracem, Asian Paint, Bajaj Auto, Coal India and Hindalco.

The turnover in cash segment advanced to Rs 14,642.63 crore from Rs 13,925.09 crore yesterday. Overall, 10,053.65 lakh shares changed hands in 71,63,896 trades. Total market capitalisation stood at Rs 65,40,439 crore.