Sensex regains 17k mark on robust IIP

The buying support of the last two days continued amid a buzz in the market that Mukesh Ambani-led petrochemical giant Reliance Industries would make a foray into telecom sector by acquiring Infotel.

Shares of RIL,which enjoys maximum weight in the index,attracted brisk buying since beginning of the trade and ended higher by 3.03 per cent at Rs 1,046.25,pushing the Sensex up by 143 points.

RIL,after the trade,said it has agreed to acquire a 95 per cent stake in Infotel for Rs 4,800 crore. The announcement of deal came within hours of Infotel emerging as the sole winner of broadband spectrum for the entire country for Rs 12,872 crore.

Buying got a boost from a whopping 17.6 per cent growth rate in industrial production in April,which bolsters the prospects of 8.5 per cent expansion in the whole economy.

8220;The smart rally in RIL on Infotel acquisition news and robust IIP data,coupled with firm global sentiments lifted the market today,8221; SMC Global Vice President Rajesh Jain said.

The wide-based 50-share Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange too closed 0.80 per cent up at 5,119.35 points.

The Sensex,however,recorded a loss of 0.3 per cent on a weekly basis.

Apart from oil amp; gas,banking,auto and consumer goods stocks too recorded smart gains.

ICICI Bank rose by 1.94 per cent,HDFC by 1.74 per cent,HDFC Bank by 1.54 per cent and SBI by 0.47 per cent.

Auto stocks extended gains for another day on robust May sales figures. Mahindra amp; Mahindra soared 2.11 per cent,Tata Motors 0.74 per cent,Maruti Suzuki 0.80 per cent and Hero Honda 0.30 per cent.

State-run BHEL rose 2.66 per cent. In frontline IT stocks TCS jumped 1.12 per cent and Wipro 0.77 per cent. But,Infosys ended in red with 0.50 per cent loss.

8220;With global scenario improving backed by strong economic data,and a decent start to the monsoons in India,we believe that markets have a good chance of retesting their previous highs,8221; Reliance Securities said in a note.

Among telecom stocks,Bharti Airtel plunged 3.7 per cent,paring some of the early gains of the Sensex.

Another cellular firm RCom dropped 0.89 per cent. Anil Ambani-led RCom today said it exited BWA auction a week back after bid prices overshot its estimates.

The 16-day long auction for Broadband Wireless Access BWA spectrum closed today,through which the government will get over Rs 38,300 crore.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks,21 closed with gains,while rest 9 ended with losses.

Other top losers include,Sterlite Industries by 1.04 per cent,ACC 0.98 per cent and Reliance Infra 0.90 per cent.

Asian stock markets ended higher with the key benchmark indices in Japan,China,South Korea,Hong Kong,Taiwan and Singapore closing higher between 0.29 per cent and 1.70 per cent.

European shares were trading higher in the early trade,and gained in the range of 0.29 per cent to 1 per cent.