Sensex smiles at end of Black October

Ending one of the worst months in its history, the Sensex closed 743 points higher on account of short covering and positive Q2 earnings of some frontline companies.

The broader benchmark Nifty also rallied nearly 7 per cent to end at 2885 levels.

“ The markets markets have rallied almost 25 per cent from their lows and they may carry the momentum in the next few trading sessions also,” said Mitesh Thakkar, an investment advisor.

On the BSE, metal index led the gainers, surging 10.2 per cent. Prominent gainers in the pack were JSW Steel, Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel and Power. JSW Steel jumped over 32 per cent to end at Rs 304.

Other major gainers among the sectoral indices were oil and gas, banking and technology stocks.

The oil and gas index on the BSE rose 9.1 per cent. RIL, Aban Offshore and Essar Oil were the prominent gainers in the pack.

The banking index gained 7.2 per cent while the technology index jumped 6.6 per cent.

Among the Sensex scrips, Mahindra & Mahindra was the biggest gainer, up over 23 per cent. Other major gainers were Housing Development Finance, JP Associates and ICICI Bank, up more than 15 per cent each.

Sensex heavyweight RIL, surged 13.8 per cent on reports the company could fetch higher selling price for gas.

RCom, also spiked in the last minutes of trade to end 13.76 per cent higher after its Q2 results were announced. The company’s net profit stood at Rs 1531 crore v/s Rs 1512 in the previous quarter.

Hindalco also jumped 13.2 per cent after net profits of the company rose 12.04% to Rs 719.95 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007.

“Apart from positive Q2 results, the sharp upmove in frontline stocks is also on account of tremendous short covering,” said Rajesh Jain, Director & CEO, Pranav Securities.
Pharma major Ranbaxy slumped nearly 2 per cent. According to news reports, Daiichi, the Japanese company that acquired Ranbaxy, said it will provide new forecast in January after reassessing Ranbaxy’s value.

The midcap index on the BSE ended 3.4 per cent higher. Core Projects and Tech was the top gainer in the group, up nearly 39 per cent.

The small cap index also gained 2.5 per cent to end at 3765 levels. Bannari Amman Sugars, rising 19.9 per cent was the top gainer in this space.

Asian markets were mixed on Friday as Japanese stocks fell despite the first rate cut in seven years while shares in India soared to catch up with the global market rally after a holiday there.

Investors were also digesting data overnight that confirmed the U.S. economy — a major export market — had contracted in the third quarter.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index sank 5 percent to 8,576.98 after the Bank of Japan cut its key interest rate from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent. Investors who wanted a full quarter-point cut viewed the step as half-hearted.

South Korea's market extended the previous session's 12 percent rally with the Korea Composite Stock Price Index gaining 2.6 percent to 1,113.06. Australia's key index climbed out of negative territory to close 0.4 percent higher.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid as the afternoon progressed, falling 3.7 percent to 13,801.72 after vaulting 12.8 percent Thursday. Smaller Asian markets such as the Philippines and Taiwan both rose 4 percent or more, while Jakarta's main index shot up 5.9 percent.

Japanese stocks were modestly lower for much of the day after jumping nearly 10 percent on Thursday on expectations of a rate cut by the central bank.

Source: ndtvprofit