Sensex recovers by 291 pts, blue chips shine

Mumbai, Apr 26: The BSE Sensex rallied more than 300 points in the intra-day trade to close at 11,938, after 385 points correction during the previous two days of the week.

The benchmark index rose 330 points from day's low of 11,635.40 to intra-day high of 11,965.

The 30-share Senstive Index (Sensex) closed 291.75 points up at 11,938.53 with a gain of 2.50 per cent with frontline blue chips being the strong favourite of the investors.

The top gainers were led by Maruti, up by 6.45 per cent on the back of 39.11 per cent jump in the fourth quarter profits to Rs 360 crore.

Other blue chips like Cipla was up by 6.00 per cent to Rs 262.55; Tata Steel by 5.00 per cent to Rs 654.20; ACC by 4.90 per cent to Rs 968.15; ONGC by 4.81 per cent to Rs 1,386.50; Tata Motors by 4.51 per cent to Rs 958.40; Wipro rose by 4.32 per cent to Rs 548.90; Bajaj Auto by 4.12 per cent to 2,952.90; Hindalco by 4.10 per cent to Rs 214.40 and Hindustan Lever was up by 3.99 per cent to Rs 289.15.

Earlier, the 30-share Sensex opened firm at 11,677 with a gap of 31 points, but soon slipped into the red showing some volatility.

However, buoyed by strong data coming out from the US, Japan and Germany and positive run in the Asian stock markets, the Indian market was in the green later in morning.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index closed up by 93 points or 2.69 per cent at 3,555 points.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was also up by 2.63 per cent to Rs 977. Grasim Industries too gained 3.36 per cent to Rs 2,376.95 and HDFC was up by 3.32 per cent to Rs 1,296.95. Real Estate holding companies were big gainers today as market was buzzing with the news that market regulator SEBI was working out a separate fund for retail investors in real estate companies.

Among real estate companies, telecom major MTNL rose by 7.03 per cent to Rs 216.85; Bombay Dyeing was up by 7.99 per cent to Rs 760.15; Bata India by 16.40 per cent to Rs 278.65 and India Bulls by 11.63 per cent to Rs 276.90.

There were a few losers on the Sensex this afternoon, including Larsen&Toubro and Ranbaxy. Larsen&Toubro closed 1.08 per cent down at Rs 2,662.25 and Ranbaxy closed 0.96 per cent down at Rs 476.05.

A day before the expiry of the derivatives trading for the month of April, it was the highest ever turnover for NSE future&Options trading at Rs 56,340 crore.

The combined market turnover of BSE/NSE of both cash and derivatives trading was also highest ever at Rs 70,246 crore.

The market breadth was positive in the broader market with 1,592 scrips advancing as against 915 scrips declining out of 2,572 traded.

In the Sensex 30 scrips, 28 advanced while and only two declined.

UNI