Sensex surges 221 pts on global cues

Sensex advanced by 221 points as investors bought stocks at attractive low levels.

At the close,Sensex shot up 221 points to 18,266,making gains for the second day in a row after recent declines as investors bought heavyweights like Reliance Industries RIL stock,Infosys and ICICI at lower levels amid firm global cues.

There was good buying on the first day of the June8217;s derivative contracts in realty,banking,metals and refinery.

Analysts,however,cautioned that it was only a technical recovery and not a trend reversal because macro-economic concerns still linger.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange barometer opened firm and improved further to close the day at 18,266.10,up 221.46 points or 1.23 per cent. Yesterday,it had gained 197.40.

The broad-based NSE 50-issue Nifty also shot up 63.75 points or 1.18 per cent to end at 5,476.10.

Overall,11 of the 13 BSE sectoral indices closed with gains. Only auto and consumer durables ended in the red.

Small-cap and Mid-cap counters attracted good buying,indicating presence of retail investors.

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RIL,Infosys and ICICI,the top three scrips with most weightage in the Sensex pack made good gains. RIL gained 1.40 per cent at Rs 946.30,while ICICI Bank gained 4.23 per cent at Rs 1,069. Infosys was up 0.31 per cent at Rs 2,787.95.

Besides,ONGC,Hindalco,SBI,HDFC Bank,ITC,Mamp;M and Tata Steel supported the rally. In all,blue chips contributed over 200 points to the Sensex gain.

8220;The uptick in the Indian market in the last two days can be termed as more of a technical recovery after the recent weakness. It is a minor pullback and not a trend reversal,as the fundamentals are still weighed down by high inflation and rising interest rates,8221; said IIFL Head of Research India Private Clients Amar Ambani.

Ambani added,8221;FIIs have also been withdrawing money from the Indian stocks in the past couple of months. Corporate earnings have been mixed with a quite few negative surprises.

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In the absence of major domestic cues,the short-term trend will hinge on overseas markets.8221;

Asia markets,meanwhile,ended narrowly mixed today. Key indices in Hong Kong,Singapore,South Korea and Taiwan ended marginally up,while those in China and Japan showed losses.

However,European stocks displayed a firm trend in afternoon deals. CAC was up 0.91 per cent,FTSE 8211; 0.70 per cent and DAX 8211; 0.27 per cent.

Back home,country8217;s major aluminium producer Hindalco was the top gainer from the Sensex pack with a rise of 5.78 per cent.

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Reliance Communications jumped 5.66 per cent and was the second biggest gainer on news that the company has drawn the third and final tranche of Rs 1,200 crore USD 266 million from Rs 8,700 crore USD 1.93 billion loan facility to secured from China Development Bank.

In all,23 of the 30 Sensex companies closed with gains.

DLF was up 4.11 per cent,REL Infra 3.85 pc,Jaipra Asso 3.27 pc,ONGC 3.17 pc,Mamp;M 2.85 pc,Tata Steel 2.23pc,SBI 2.09 pc,HDFC 2.08 pc,HDFC Bank 1.39 pc,ITC 1.15 pc and Bharti Air 1.13 pc.

However,Tata Motors was the top loser in the Sensex,with a fall of 6.25 per cent after it said late yesterday said that current micro-economic factors have the potential to adversely impact commercial vehicles demand.

Among BSE sectoral indices,Realty spurted 3.60 per cent,Bankex 2.46 pc,Metal 1.98 pc and Oil amp; Gas 1.59 pc,while Auto declined by 0.85 per cent.

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The total market breadth at BSE remained positive as 1,713 scrips finished with gains,while 1,078 ended in losses.

The total turnover rose to Rs 3,237.72 crore from Rs 2,679.76 crore yesterday.

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