Sensex recovers from red, ends 199.43 pts up

Mumbai, Mar 11: Snapping the recent negative streak, the benchmark Sensex today rebounded on the Bombay Stock Exchange to close 199.43 points up at 16,123.15, tracking the positive rally in Asian markets.

The Sensex slipped in early trade to touch a low at 15,739.04 due to initial offloading in select scrips, but recovered the loss in the afternoon trade, climbing 429.09 points from its day's low to hit a day's high at 16,168.13 on fresh inflows in late trade, brokers said. Meanwhile, broader based Nifty Index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 65.50 or 1.36 per cent today to close at 4,865.90 from its previous close of 4,800.40. It touched an intraday high of 4,888.50 and a low of 4,732.85 before closing on a firm note.

Indian markets managed to post gains amid choppy trading session on steady buying demand for index pivotals at lower levels after the recent falls, brokers opined adding the recovering global markets also helped to lift the sentiment.

From the 30 Sensex pack, 17 shares advanced pushing the market breadth into positive zone. Scrips from real estate, capital goods, sugar and oil&gas rallied on fresh buying.

The market breadth was positive as on BSE, 2,070 shares advanced as compared to 634 that declined and 37 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 3.32pc to 6,992.84 and Small-Cap index moved up 3.75pc to 8,557.72. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex. The total turnover on BSE was Rs 7253 crore as compared to Rs 6896 crore in the previous session.

European markets were in green and Asian markets reversed smartly from their early losses to post gains.

Barring two, all the sectoral indices on BSE ended the day in the green. Realty, power and capital goods, which witnessed sharp fall in the bearish session, recovered and posted gains from 3 to 7 per cent. However, the IT index fell marginally by 0.62 per cent on worries over Rupee, which inched up against the US Dollar.

Shares from real estate sector surged on fresh buyings. DLF climbed 10.53 pc to Rs 752 on 10.58 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack. Other gainers from real estate sector were HDIL, up 6.70pc to Rs 681, Indiabulls Real Estate gained 6.57pc to Rs 516.50 and Unitech ended up 3.81pc to Rs 283.30 to support the positive rally.

Heavyweights from capital goods sector staged a smart comeback after extended sell-off in previous sessions. L&T galloped 6.90pc to Rs 2916.50. The stock had plunged 8.57pc to Rs 2732 on concerns of losses from commodity hedging for FY 08, a day before.

Meanwhile, Bharat Heavy Electricals gained 4.74pc to Rs 2001, after hitting low of Rs 1880. The stock lost 6.20pc to Rs 1900 yesterday.

Other heavyweights like Reliance Industries gained 3.16pc to Rs 2345.05 on 9.05 lakh shares. The stock recovered sharply after hitting a low of Rs 2215.15 in early trade. Maruti Suzuki India lost 3.65pc to Rs 860.90 on 2.53 lakh shares.

UNI