After the splendid surge on Tuesday, it was another bright session for stocks on the Indian bourses today with the bulls remaining relentless once again thanks to a firm trend in
global markets.

The Sensex, which rallied past the 14,000 mark in style and then went way beyond to 14,299.54 in late afternoon trade, ended the day at 14,253.24 with a sparkling gain of 399.54 points or 2.88%. The Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange closed at 4233.50 with a gain of 122.10 points or 2.97%. In intra-day trades today, the Nifty hit a high of 4249.55.

Better than expected results from some top ranking U.S. firms and some decent economic data had buoyed up Asian markets today. Taking cues, the Indian bulls went on a rampage once again, and, more importantly, stayed on till the very end to guide the market to a buoyant close.

Besides strong global cues, expectations of a rapid economic recovery, a concrete roadmap on disinvestment, and more rains during the current monsoon also kept the sentiment upbeat right through the session today. After a bright start, the market did turn a bit subdued and moved in a tight band for about an hour or so, but started moving higher in late morning trade. And then, it was a virtual one way trip up north for stocks across the board.

Realty stocks were in demand right through the day. Mirroring their surge, the BSE Realty index shot up by as much as 7.98% today. Metal, power, capital goods, PSU, auto and oil stocks rallied. Bank stocks took time to settle down but they did not look back once they began their journey up north past mid afternoon.

Telecom, pharma and FMCG stocks too posted strong gains. Information technology stocks remained relatively subdued today. Heavy buying was seen at several counters in midcap and smallcap segments.

Hindalco moved up by 8.25%. Jaiprakash Associates, DLF, Hero Honda, BHEL, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Reliance Communications gained 5% - 8%. Reliance Infrastructure (4.8%), Larsen & Toubro (4.2%), Tata Power (4.15%) and Sterlite Industries (4.1%) ended with strong gains.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries surged 3.55%. Tata Consultancy Services, ONGC, Sun Pharmaceuticals, State Bank of India and Wipro gained 3% - 3.5%. HDFC, ICICI Bank, ACC, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Grasim Industries and HDFC Bank gained 1% - 3.5%.

Bharti Airtel ended nearly a per cent up. Hindustan Unilever closed with a marginal gain while Infosys Technologies ended with a modest loss.

Reliance Power (up 8.6%) was the top gainer in the Nifty index. Idea Cellular, Siemens, SAIL, Nalco, Cairn India, Unitech, Suzlon Energy, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Reliance Capital gained 4% - 7.5%.

ABB, Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank, Power Grid Corporation, BPCL, HCL Technologies, Jindal Steel, GAIL India and Tata Communications also ended on a firm note today.

Bhushan Steel flared up by over 22.5%. India Bulls Real Estate shot up by over 13%. Lanco Infratech, Akruti City, Opto Circuit, IFCI, Welspun Gujarat, Reliance Natural Resources, GE Shipping, Ispat Industries and Hindustan Copper gained between 10% and 13%. NMDC, JP Hydropower, Spice Telecom, MMTC, RECL, Andhra Bank, Gujarat NRE Coke also ended with hefty gains today.

The market breadth was very strong. Out of 2684 stocks traded on BSE, as many as 2038 stocks closed with gains. 557 stocks declined and 89 stocks ended flat.

The volume of business was fairly good. On the National Stock Exchange, the turnover, at Rs 16,685.17 crore, was up by over Rs 2,500 crore than the turnover the exchange had recorded in the previous session.