With strong global markets and some good results from India Inc giving them a solid platform, the bulls had everything going their way for yet another session. Continuing from they had left last Friday, the bulls went on a rampage and lifted stock prices up sharply
today to drive the market to its best close since 12 June 2009.
The 30-share BSE sensitive index Sensex, which sped past the magical 15,000 mark in early in early trade, retreated a bit after that, but rebounded sharply once again and rose to 15,209.36 in late afternoon trade. The barometer finally ended the day at 15,191.01 with a huge gain of 446.09 points or 3.03%.

The broader 50-stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange closed at 4502.25 with a gain of 127.30 points or 2.91%. In intra-day trades, the Nifty hit a high of 4510.30.

Information technology stocks were the star performers today. Realty, bank, oil, metal and capital goods stocks too had a bright outing. Pharma, auto and consumer durables stocks which were a bit sedate to start with, but gained in strength as the session progressed. Select PSU, power and telecom stocks surged higher while FMCG stocks remained subdued almost right through the session.

Information technology stocks, led by Tata Consultancy Services (15.35%) - the stock vaulted on the back of impressive first quarter results - and the other Sensex heavyweights Wipro (7.15) and Infosys Technologies (5.7%), rallied sharply on sustained buying support today.

ICICI Bank gained a little over 6%. DLF moved up by 5.4%. Hindalco and Reliance Industries ended higher by over 5%. Jaiprakash Associates, ACC, Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Grasim Industries, BHEL and Maruti Suzuki gained 2% - 5%.

ONGC moved up by 1.85%. NTPC ended with a gain of 1.3%. Hero Honda and Tata Power closed with modest gains.

FMCG heavyweight ITC closed lower by nearly 2%. Hindustan Unilever ended with a small loss. Reliance Communications and Reliance Infrastructure lost 1.15% and 1.2% respectively. Tata Steel and HDFC closed with modest losses.

HCL Technologies surged 8.5%. Unitech posted a gain of 7.9%. Cairn India ended higher by over 6%. Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, Siemens, ABB, Tata Communications and Reliance Capital also signed off on a high note today.

Suzlon Energy, Ambuja Cements, BPCL and Reliance Power closed weak.

Among non-Sensex IT stocks, Tech Mahindra moved up by nearly 9.25%. MphasiS, Oracle Financial Services, Rolta India, Moser Baer, Patni Computer Systems, Financial Technologies, MindTree, Core Projects & Technologies, HCL Infosys, Polaris and FSL also ended with impressive gains.

Realty stocks Sobha Developers, Ackruti City, Parsvnath Developers, Mahindra Lifespace, Orbit Corporation, Anant Raj Industries, Ansal Infrastructure, Phoenix Mills, Omaxe and HDIL finished with strong gains.

Among bank stocks, Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, Indian Bank, Dena Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Union Bank of India gained 6% - 9.25%. IDBI Bank, Kotak Bank, Bank of Baroda, Karnataka Bank, Federal Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Vijaya Bank, Syndicate Bank, UCO Bank, J&K Bank and Canara Bank also gained significant ground today.

Among metal stocks, Gujarat NRE Coke shot up by 17%. Sesa Goa and Hindustan Zinc gained 8.45% and 8.15% respectively. Jai Corp and Jindal Steel also closed with sharp gains.

Besides several large cap stocks, a number of midcap and smallcap stocks recorded sparkling gains today. The market breadth was quite strong. Out of 2741 stocks traded on BSE, 1837 stocks moved up and 832 stocks declined. 72 stocks ended flat.