Sensex drops 205 points

The market held firm above the 17,100 levels for almost entire session as positive US and strong Asian markets created a perfect platform for the bulls to pursue buying. The Sensex resumed 107 points higher at 17,085 and advanced further on substantial buying support. While the gains continued unabated, buying spree in heavyweights, capital goods, realty, oil & gas, banking and power stocks propelled the index to an intra-day high of 17,366 in noon trades. The Sensex finally wrapped up the session with gains of 375 points at 17,353, while the Nifty ended at 5,115, up 104 points.

The market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing losers by 1.40:1. Of the 2,754 stocks traded on the BSE 1,771 stocks advanced, 909 stocks declined and 74 stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices, barring BSE FMCG index, ended positive. BSE CG index was the major gainer and soared 3.46% followed by the BSE Realty index (up 3.41%), BSE oil & gas index (up 2.65%), BSE Bankex index (up 2.44%) and BSE Power index (up 2.12%).

Front-line stocks once again led the rally. Hindalco was the front-runner amongst the heavyweights and vaulted 6.11% at Rs204.05. Among other major gainers, Reliance Communications rose by 5.31% at Rs589, L&T surged 4.67% at Rs2,962, Reliance Industries advanced 3.66% at Rs2,622.65, ICICI Bank scaled up 3.62% at Rs928.70, Infosys flared up 3.56% at Rs1,891.30 and DLF jumped 3.36% at Rs643.85. Maruti, BHEL, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, HDFC and JP Associates gained over 2% each. Satyam Computer Services however lost ground and tumbled 3.43% at Rs483.90, while Hindustan Unilever lost 1.85% at Rs238.60.

Capital goods stocks witnessed strong buying support. Crompton Greaves rallied sharply by 8.13% at Rs245.30, Kalpataru Power Transmissions vaulted 5.04% at Rs1,034.10, Kirloskar Brothers surged 4.20% at Rs250.30 and Areva scaled up 3.65% at Rs1,605.55. Alstom Projects, Suzlon Energy, Havells India and Punj LLoyd added over 2-3% each. Among the gainers in realty stocks, Phoenix Mill, Omaxe, HDFC, Parsvnath Developers, Akruti City, Unitech, DLF and Indiabulls Real Estate flared up 2-5% each.

Over 7.04 crore Aishwarya Telecom shares changed hands on the BSE followed by IFCI (2.18 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.08 crore shares), Cyber Mate (1.08 crore shares) and Reliance Natural Resources (1.02 crore shares).

Valuewise, Aishwarya Telecom registered a turnover of Rs866 crore followed by Reliance Communications (Rs258 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs179 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs163 crore) and Satyam Computer Services (Rs158 crore).