Sensex spurts by 214.59 points

Mumbai, Mar 19 (UNI) The Sensex today surged by 214.59 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange to end in the green at 12,644.99, enthused by firm Asian markets and short-covering in the derivatives segment.

Among the broader markets, the Nifty Index also jumped by 70.35 points at the NSE to settle at 3678.90 points from its previous close of 3608.55 points.

Today was the last day of the session wherein on account of sun outage, trading was suspended between 1145 hrs and 1230 hrs, consequently extending trading time till 1615 hrs. From tomorrow onwards, the market will close as usual at 1530 hrs.

The lacklustre turnover on BSE aggregated Rs 2385 crore on account of a bank holiday for 'Gudhi Padva', marketmen said.

Therefore the settlement for trading done on Friday and today was clubbed for day-after-tomorrow on March 21, brokers explained.

The market-breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, looked strong on BSE. Against 1,402 shares advancing, 1,124 declined. A total of 72 scrips remained unchanged. Among the 30-Sensex pack, 24 advanced while the rest declined, experts said.

Among the Asian benchmarks, Japanese Nikkei 225 Index surged 265.40 points (1.59 per cent) to 17,009.55, the Hang Seng rose 313.24 points (1.65 per cent), to 19,266.74, the Straits Times gained 44.64 points (1.45 per cent) at 3,113.39, the Seoul Composite rose 15.51 points (1.09 per cent), to 1,443.39 and the Taiwan Weighted was up 17.66 points (0.23 per cent), to 7,737.46.

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