The Sensex on Friday recorded a fresh 2009 high on the back of strong earnings, positive global cues and renewed buying interest at the start of the August derivatives series.
The BSE index opened with a positive gap of 61 points at 15,449. The index surged thereafter to the calendar year's high of 15,733 - up 345 points. Towards the end of the day, the index slipped for a brief while but managed to recover sharply.
The Sensex finally ended the day with a gain of 282 points (2%) at 15,670.
The BSE Oil & Gas and FMCG indices gained 3% each to 2,738 and 9,480, respectively.
The NSE Nifty ended at 4,636, up 65 points. Ealier in the day the index touched a high of 4,670 - up 99 points.
US markets had closed with big gains on Thursday. Asian markets on Friday closed at their 11-month high.
This has taken the Sensex up 291 points (2%) this week. The Nifty has added 68 points (1.5%) at the same time.
The market breadth was positive on Friday. Out of 2,801 stocks traded, 1,401 advanced while 1,299 declined.
INDEX MOVERS...
Hindalco and Tata Motors have surged 6.5% each to Rs 100 and Rs 422, respectively. ONGC has rallied 6% to Rs 1,165.
SBI has gained 5% at Rs 1,814. Hindustan Unilever added 3% to Rs 291.
Reliance, ITC, Sterlite moved up 3% each. HDFC Bank, HDFC, Infosys, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Reliance Infrastructure and BHEL also moved up 1-3% each.
Among the Nifty stocks, Nalco surged 5% to Rs 306. Ambuja Cements and Idea Cellular added 4% each to Rs 109 and Rs 79, respectively.
ABB, Cairn India and Siemens also moved up.
...AND THE SHAKERS
Bharti Airtel traded in red through teh day and finally ended at Rs 411, down 3%. Reliance Communications and Hero Honda dropped 2% each to Rs 276 and Rs 1,606, respectively.
DLF also slipped 1% to Rs 396.
In Nifty, Jindal Steel, BPCL, HCL Technologies, Cipla and PowerGrid Corporation dropped 1-3% each.
Image: A stock market chart at a brokerage in Mumbai. | Photograph: Reuters
