Nifty rallies to 5150; RIL, ICICI, NTPC surge

MUMBAI : The series of choppy sessions came to end Wednesday, as equity benchmarks surged to end near intermediate resistance levels for the first time in one and half months.

Indices opened in the green taking cues from the positive economic news from the US housing market. Sustained buying activity in index-heavyweights like Reliance Industries, NTPC, and ICICI Bank propelled the benchmarks to higher levels.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's comment on India's economic growth boosted sentiments further. The minister said the Indian economy can grow 7.75 per cent in the fiscal year 2010 and 9-10 per cent growth is within reach.

According to dealers, domestic institutions and funds entered the markets taking by surprise retailers who were expecting the indices to drift lower.

"Foreign funds are usually silent towards end of the year. Buying in selected heavyweights appears to be from the domestic institutions and mutual funds. Retail participants have been left out as they were waiting for further correction to enter at lower levels," said Jatin Shah, head of dealing desk, Techno Stock Broking.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 5144.60, up 158.75 points or 3.18 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5150.60 and low of 4990.05.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 17231.11 up 539.11 points or 3.23 per cent. The 30-share index hit intraday high of 17252.09 and low of 16723.96.

"Market outlook will change if Nifty closes above 5120. The index is likely to test 5350-5470 levels. Traders who had gone short were caught off-guard. Indices will find good support as traders try to square-off shorts," said Huseini Vadharia, vice president, technical team, Techno Stock Broking.

The BSE Midcap Index was up 1.57 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.51 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index was up 4.05 per cent, BSE Oil&gas Index gained 3.43 per cent and BSE Power Index moved 3.37 per cent higher.

Hindalco Industries (7.23%), NTPC (6.56%), Sterlite Industries (5.05%), Tata Steel (4.76%) and ICICI Bank (4.71%) were amongst the top Nifty gainers.

NTPC surged on reports that the government may allow power producers to sell up to 50 per cent of unallocated electricity from new plants in the open market. The other possible beneficiary NHPC ended 6.75 per cent higher.

Reliance Industries shot up after reports of third successive gas discovery in the D3 deep-sea block in the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the east coast. The stock ended 4.59 per cent higher.

Shares of Hindalco and NALCO rose on reports that they have increased aluminium prices in line with global market.

Hero Honda (-0.07%) was the lone index loser.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1,907 advances and 924 declines.

European markets were in the green and US stocks are also expected to open higher. At 4:50 pm IST, Dow Jones stock futures was up 0.27 per cent, S&P 500 moved 0.39 per cent higher and Nasdaq 100 gained 0.35 per cent.
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