The Indian market rose sharply to its highest level since February 2008 on Tuesday, as strong global cues, continued buying by foreign funds and a good monsoon thus far this year boosted sentiment.
The rally was broad-based and the market breadth was extremely strong, with gaining shares outpacing declining ones by 2070 to 884 shares on the BSE.
The 30-share Sensex ended up 339 points or 1.86% at 18,560, while the broader Nifty rose by 98 points or 1.78% to 5,577. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes gained 1.31% and 1.83%, respectively. Sector-wise, metal, banking, realty, oil/gas, IT and auto stocks spearheaded the rally.
In the metal pack, Tata Steel climbed 6.60%, Hindalco rallied 4.78% and Sterlite Industries advanced 3.69%. Private sector lender ICICI Bank gained 3.81%. State-run lender State Bank of India added a little over 3% on reports it may merger all five of its remaining associate banks with itself.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries, which has been edging down in recent sessions, following its acquisition of a stake in EIH, ended up 2.98%. IT bellwether Infosys gained 2.16%. Auto stocks such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto gained between 0.5% and 4.65%.
Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Power, BHEL, TCS, Jindal Steel,DLF and Bharti Airtel were the other prominent gainers.
On the flip side, Reliance Communication declined 0.31% after it called off a merger of its telecom tower business with GTL Infrastructure. Hero Honda Motors (down 1.92%), Hindustan Unilever (down 0.22%) and Larsen & Toubro (down 0.07%) also ended in the red.
State-run oil companies IOC and ONGC closed firm on divestment reports. Reliance Natural Resources and Reliance Power rose about 1.5% each after they received shareholder approval for a proposed merger between the companies.
Tyre manufacturers such as Apollo Tyres (up 6.54%), JK Tyre (up 7.49%) and MRF (up 4.61%) rallied, extending their recent gains after auto companies reported robust sales growth for August.
Private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines soared 8.83% after it entered into a code-sharing agreement with British Airways Plc. Drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma rose 1.82% after it inked a licensing and supply pact with AstraZeneca.
Unity Infraprojects added 2.27% on bagging a Rs.74.54 crore contract for construction of a hostel in Mumbai. Shree Renuka Sugars edged up 0.65% after it renamed its Brazil unit.
TVS Motor Company advanced 2.21% ahead of a record date for a 1:1 bonus issue. Uflex climbed 3.86% after its step down subsidiary Flex P. Films S.A,E., Egypt commenced the manufacturing of biaxially oriented polypropylene film.
Hotel stocks such as EIH Associated Hotels (up 6.74%), Hotel Leela Venture (up 3.36%) and Viceroy Hotels ( up 7.96%) rallied. BEML jumped 5.59% after it signed a pact with Mineral Exploration Corporation for coal-mining projects. Gujarat Gas? climbed 10.21% after it reportedly hiked CNG prices by 8%. Tide Water Oil fell 3.81% on reports it is scouting for acquisitions in the lubricants space.
Elsewhere, Asian stocks saw broad-based gains on Monday, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific index up by about 1.6% to a four-week high, as improving U.S. housing and jobs data along with manufacturing data from the U.S. and China last week, eased concerns that economic growth was faltering.
European stocks also opened on a firm note, while the U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com