The Nifty has to sustain itself above 5,900 for the upward momentum to continue
 

Assurances from the US Fed that it will continue with its stimulus programme boosted markets across the globe, with India also joining the rally. The Nifty has to sustain itself above 5,900 for the upward momentum to continue. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a lower volume of 48.25 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 864:487.

The market witnessed  a gap up opening on comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that monetary policy would remain accommodative for the foreseeable future, even if the US unemployment rate hits the Fed's target of 6.5%. The comments also saw the Asian pack in the positive in morning trade today.

The Nifty opened 78 point higher at 5,895 and the Sensex resumed trade at 19,468, a jump of 174 points over its previous close. While the opening figure of the Sensex was also its intraday low, the Nifty’s low was at 5,888.

The optimism from the US saw all sectoral indices higher in morning trade led by banking, realty, metal, PSU and oil & gas. The gains helped the benchmarks hit their highs in noon trade. The Nifty rose to 5,949 and the Sensex surged to 19,724 at their respective highs.

The market continued remain firm in the second half of the trading session on support from the European markets which opened higher on assurance from the Fed. The benchmarks were range-bound in the positive till the end of the session.

The Nifty closed with a gain of 118 points (2.04%) to 5.935 and the Sensex ended the session at 19,677, a jump of 382 points (1.98%).

Although the broader indices also settled in the green, they lagged the Sensex today. The BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.675 and the BSE Small-cap index advanced 0.66%.

With the exception of BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.64%), all other sectoral indices settled in the green. The top gainers were BSE Metal (up 3%); BSE Bankex (up 2.48%); BSE Realty (up 2.44%); BSE Capital Goods (up 1.84%); BSE Oil & Gas (up 1.80%) and BSE PSU (up 1.77%).

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 27 stocks settled higher. The main gainers were Sterlite Industries (up 4.78%); Hindalco Industries (up 4.74%); HDFC Bank (up 3.32%); Bharti Airtel (up 3.31%) and TCS (up 3.10%). The losers were Maruti Suzuki (down 2.43%); Wipro (down 0.45%) and Cipla (down 0.11%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Indiabulls Real Estate (up 12.17%) and Sesa Goa (up 5.89%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Gitanjali Gems (down 5%) and MMTC (down 4.97%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Minaxi Textiles (up 19.74%) and Gennex Laboratories (up 19.74%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Microsec Financial Services (down 17.24%); and Riga Sugar Company (down 16.92%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 46 ended in the in the green. The major gainers were Sesa Goa (up 6.25%); Hindalco Ind (up 4.43%); Bharti Airtel (up 3.43%); Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 3.26%) and IndusInd Bank (up 3.24%). The losers were Larsen & Toubro (down 31.73%); Maruti Suzuki (down 2.84); Ranbaxy (down 1.10%) and Tata Motors (down 0.30%).

Markets in Asia closed in the positive following assurances from US Fed chief Ben Bernanke that the central bank will continue with its stimulus programme  and indications that Chinese policymakers will adopt an accommodative monetary policy to spur growth. The Japanese market underperformed the Asian pack as analysts believed that the Bank of Japan may hold additional steps on signs of positive growth.

The Shanghai Composite jumped 3.23%; the Hang Seng surged 2.5%; the Jakarta Composite climbed 2.80%; the KLSE Composite advanced 0.70%; the Nikkei 225 gained 0.39%; the Straits Times surged 1.91%; the Seoul Composite climbed 2.93% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 2.10% higher.

At the time of writing, the key European indices were trading higher and the US stock futures were trading with good gains.

Back home, institutional investors—foreign as well as domestic—were net buyers in the equities segment on Wednesday. While FIIs bought shares totalling Rs75.46 crore, DIIs invested Rs28.77 crore.

Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications (RCom) today said it has completed securitisation of proceeds from its Rs1,200 crore ($200 million) deal with Reliance Jio. The amount from securitisation has been utilised to repay rupee debt, saving significant interest costs for the company. RCom gained 1.07% to close at Rs141.80 on the NSE.

GVK Power has asked the government to consider its request for tapering linkages to meet the coal requirement of its 540 MW thermal power plant in Punjab, saying that if allocation is done the company will then be in a position to begin electricity generation from next month. The stock fell 0.68% to close at Rs7.25 on the NSE.

BGR Energy Systems has bagged the balance of plant (BoP) contract valued at Rs1,573 crore from Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) for its expansion project wherein the state owned generator would add two 660 Mw units to its existing power station. The stock gained 3.95% to Rs125.10 on the NSE.