Sensex roots for Chidambaram

Index soars 161 points.

The stock market today hurrahed P Chidambaram's appointment as India's finance minister. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed 161.66 points higher, pushed by select fund and institution buying to top the 5,100 mark.

The Sensex surged 171 points to an intra-day high of 5,132.90, before finally closing at 5123.23, a gain of 3.26 per cent (161.66 points) from Friday's close. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty gained 48.65 points to close at 1,608.85.

The BSE IT sector index was up 8.03 per cent, followed by the TECk index, which was up 7.07 per cent. But the BSE PSU index barely inched up 0.82 per cent, after the disinvestment ministry failed to figure in the recent Cabinet portfolio announcements. The BSE capital goods index was up 2.27 per cent, the healthcare index gained 2.16 per cent and the consumer durables index was up 1.50 per cent.

Twenty-eight of the 30 scrips in the Sensex closed higher. The broader market was also buoyant, with 1,213 gainers versus 469 losers on the BSE.

Reliance Energy was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, up 11.23 per cent to Rs 580.25, followed by technology bellwether Infosys Technologies, which was up 8.46 per cent to Rs 5,319.20. Satyam Computer gained 8.31 per cent to Rs 328.30 and Wipro was up 6.62 per cent to Rs 1,609.40.

The State Bank of India scrip's price was up 4.75 per cent to Rs 540, Reliance Industries gained 3.23 per cent to Rs 453.60 and ITC was up 2.09 per cent to Rs 918.45. Zee Telefilms was up 6.08 per cent to Rs 125.55, Hindalco gained 5.78 per cent to Rs 974.15 and Tata Power was 5.48 per cent to Rs 308.90.

Tata Motors was up 5.80 per cent to Rs 444.50, Hero Honda Motor gained 4.13 per cent to Rs 474.50 and Maruti Udyog was up 2.12 per cent to Rs 474.10.

The volumes in the market were marginally higher than on Friday, with a turnover of Rs 1,824.69 crore on the BSE and Rs 4,059.66 crore on the NSE in the cash segment.