Frenzied buying in blue chip stocks in late afternoon trade lifted the market, which was seen struggling around for well over a couple of hours following a listless start, to a highly positive close today. A series of impressive report cards from India Inc., and short-covering due to expiry of July series derivatives contracts fueled the rally. A recovery in Asian markets, the firm trend on the European bourses and higher U.S. index futures also aided the sentiment.

The 30-share BSE sensitive index Sensex, which had drifted down to 15,065.48 in early trade, suffering a loss of over 100 points in early trade, vaulted to 15,409.91 during the final hour and eventually ended the day at 15,387.96 with a big gain of 214.50 points or 1.41%.


The broader 50-stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange closed with a gain of 57.95 points or 1.28% at 4571.45. The index touched a low of 4474.50 and a high of 4582.35 today.

Information technology stocks had a very good outing today. Tata Consultancy Services, which ended stronger by a little over 6%, was the top gainer among Sensex stocks. Wipro moved up by 4.7% and Infosys Technologies gained 1.35%. Among other IT stocks, Patni Computer Systems shot up by over 12.5% following an announcement from the company that it will be scouting for some acquisitions.

MphasiS, Aptech, Tech Mahindra, Rolta India, Oracle Financial Services, HCL Technologies, Financial Technologies, Hexaware, Core Projects and CMC also ended on a high note today.

FMCG stocks rose as monsoon turned a bit active at some parts of the country. Sector heavyweights Hindustan Unilever and ITC closed stronger by 5.15% and 2.35% respectively. Ruchi Soya, Tata Tea, United Spirits and United Breweries also finished with impressive gains.

Thanks to strong results posted by State Bank of India, fairly heavy buying was seen in the banking space this afternoon. State Bank of India closed stronger by around 4%. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank moved up by 2.95% and 3.15% respectively.

Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Corporation Bank closed with sharp gains.

Several stocks from the realty space surged higher. DLF, Unitech, Ansal Infrastructure, HDIL, Orbit Corporation, Omaxe and Mahindra Lifespace gained significant ground.

HDFC, Tata Steel, ACC, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Infrastructure, NTPC, Cipla, Ambuja Cements, Tata Communications, Power Grid Corporation and Mahindra & Mahindra moved up sharply. Tata Motors and Sterlite Industries finished with modest gains.

Shares of state run oil marketing firms BPCL, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation rose sharply following a fall in global crude oil price. GAIL India too closed on a firm note.

Consumer durables, capital goods, pharma, metal and power stocks exhibited a mixed trend.

Sun Pharmaceuticals, BHEL, Reliance Industries, Hindalco, Reliance Communications, Tata Power, Punjab National Bank, Jindal Steel, Nalco and ABB closed with sharp to moderate losses. Hero Honda ended little changed from its previous closing price.

Midcap and smallcap stocks were relatively subdued today. The BSE Midcap index gained a little over half a per cent while the Smallcap barometer ended stronger by 0.8%.


The market breadth was fairly strong today. Out of 2758 stocks traded on BSE, 1503 stocks closed on a positive note. 1170 stocks declined and 85 stocks ended flat.