Markets end near day's high

Markets shrugged off weak industrial output data and ended near day's high bolstered by strong global cues and rally in metal and realty stocks.

S&P CNX Nifty opened in the green and dipped to 5,711 (down 89 points) on reports of industrial output data for the month of November at 2.7% compared to 11.3% in October.

The Nifty bounced back from the day's low and touched an high of 5,874, snapping six days of decline which had dragged the index down more than 6%.

The Nifty closed at 5863, up 109 points, and Sensex ended at 19,534, up 338 points.

Despite the market rally, investors continued to remain wary for the near-term ahead of Infosys results on Thursday and Inflation data for December on Friday.

The industrial output data for the month of November at 2.7% was below estimated 6%.

Manufacturing growth was muted at 2.3% versus 12.3% in the same month last year, manufacturing goods has 80% weightage on IIP index.

Dr Arun Singh, Sr. Economist, Dun & Bradstreet, said, "the inflationary pressures might have impacted the production activity in the intermediate goods and the consumer non-durables sector." Dun & Bradstreet expects IIP growth to consolidate and average around 8.5% during the remaining months of the current fiscal.

Infosys October-December quarter results may provide the much needed relief to the volatile markets on Thursday.

Shashi Bhusan, Senior Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher said, " we are positive on the overall demand environment of Indian IT services and have recently revised our volume estimate for Tier-1 companies to 26-30% from earlier 22-25% and for Tier-2 companies to 22-27% from 16-22%."

BSE IT index ended higher 1.1% ahead of the results. IT bellwether Infosys advanced 1.4%, other rivals TCS climbed 3.3%, HCL Tech gained 0.8% and Wipro ended marginally lower, down 0.2%.

Other markets in Asia ended on a firm note supported by higher crude-oil prices. Hang Seng was up 1.5% at 24,126 backed by gains in energy producers.

The Shanghai Composite closed up 0.6% at 2,821 led by rally in property shares. The Straits Times closed flat at 3,247, while the Seoul Composite at 2,095 and Taiwan Weighted at 8,965 both closed up marginally at 0.3% and 0.4%.

BSE Consumer Durables shares rallied, the index ended up 4.6% pulled by Titan Industries, up 7.7%, Whirpool, up  6.6% and VIP Industries, up 4.1%.

Highe beta BSE Metals and Realty indices were up 3.3% and 2.8% each.

Sterlite Industries zoomed 6.5%, JSW Steel surged 5.4% and Bhushan Steel advanced 4.2%. From realty space Unitech was up 6.3%, Sobha Developers climbed 3.8% and Indiabulls Real Estate gained 3.7%.

BSE capital goods index was a laggard in trade on back of weak IIP data, the index ended down 0.2%.

Larsen & Tourbo slipped 1.4%, Gammon India was off 1.2% and Crompton Greaves lost 0.7%.

Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Motors rose 4.8%, ICICI Bank advanced 4.4% and HDFC climbed 3.1%.

Only eight components on the benchmark were trading in the red, Larsen & Tourbo, down 1.4%, Bajaj Auto fell 1.5% and Hindustan Unilever declined 1.3%.

Broader markets also rallied, the midcap and smallcap indices gained 1.7% and 1.4% each.

Market breadth was positive 1831 stocks advanced for 1050 stocks that declined.