Markers buoyant on R-day eve

Mumbai: The markets have continued the up trend after Wednesday’s surge. Nifty closed at an all-time high ahead of Republic Day.

The stock markets gathered momentum in late afternoon trade on the last day of the January series, with both the Sensex and Nifty ending more than one per cent up at new closing peaks on hectic short-covering.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) bellwether opened firm at 14,151.62 and later surged to the intra-day high of 14,307.19 before ending the day at 14,282.72, a net rise of 172.26 points or 1.22 per cent over yesterday's close of 14,110.46.

Similarly, the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) not only touched an all-time trading high of 4,157.95 but also ended at a new peak of 4,147.70, a gain of 57.80 points or 1.41 per cent from the last close of 4,089.90.

Heavy buying was seen in metal stocks followed by capital goods. BSE Metals index was up 4.5 per cent; SAIL was up 7 per cent, Tata Steel gained 6.5 per cent. The other index gainers were Bharti Airtel up 5.5 per cent and MTNL up 3.5 per cent.

The BSE Auto index geared up 0.94 per cent or 51.86 points at 5,591.64. Escorts, Ashok Leyland, Cummins, Hind Motors and M&M ended positive. The FMCG index firmed up 0.12 per cent or 2.43 points at 1,951.25. United Spirits, Shaw Wallace, HLL, Colgate and Britannia moved up.

The BSE Bankex index gained 0.85 per cent or 63.01 points at 7,446.83. Bank of Baroda, IOB, UTI Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank ended in green. The BSE Capital Goods index advanced 1.70 per cent or 161.27 points at 9,630.21. Praj Industries, BEML, BHEL, L&T and HEG firmed up.

The BSE IT index surged 0.89 per cent or 47.30 points at 5,365.49. Moser Baer, Patni Computer, Wipro, Satyam and Mphasis gained. The BSE Metal index soared 4.30 per cent or 396.55 points at 9,625.45. SAIL, Sesa Goa, Jindal Steel, Jindal Saw and Tata Steel rallied. The BSE Oil & gas rose 0.78 per cent or 51.69 points at 6,690.91. HPCL, GAIL, IOC, MRPL and BPCL pumped up.

However, the BSE Healthcare index ended down 0.02 per cent or 0.78per cent at 3,803.19. Lupin, Cipla, Wockhardt, Ranbaxy Labs and Nicholas Pirama plunged. The NSE cash turnover was at Rs11440.98 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 53806.48 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 4689.6 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 69937.06 crore.