Sensex up by 417.51 points

Mumbai, Aug 27: The Sensex today soared by a whopping 417.51 points, crossing the 14,850 level on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), to settle at 14,843.38 spurred by combined effects of a stable national political scenario, buoyant global indices and short-covering ahead of the expiry of this month's derivatives contracts series later this week.

''Indications are now quite clear that the UPA government will not go ahead with negotiations on the Indo-US nuke deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Suppliers Group until all the concerns of the Left are satisfactorily addressed in Parliament. The Left has also made it abundantly clear that the question of withdrawal of support was not even considered by them. So as of for now and the near future, the government is fishing in safe waters,'' political pundits explained.

''After opening strong, the market continued to gain strength on buying momentum in index pivotals. The benchmark Sensex crossed the 14,850 level by the end of trade. Asian markets were firm, while European markets also notched-up gains. Morever, today's momentum was derived mainly from the last sessions' rally on Wall Street, triggered by surprisingly strong data on US home sales and durable goods. Also. short-covering ahead of this month's expiry of derivatives contracts series aided the market's rise,'' market pundits observed.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also breached the 4,300 level to settle in the green at 4,302.60, notching up 112.45 points in the bargain.

BSE data shows that the market breadth was strong since 2,050 shares advanced as compared to 629 that declined, while 54 remained unchanged. The total turnover here amounted to Rs 3,489 crore. All the sectoral indices on BSE posted gains. Among the 30-scrip Sensex constituents, 28 gained, while only two were in the red.

SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, NTPC and Reliance Industries were the prominent leaders, while Ambuja Cement and Cipla were the only two laggards in the elite Sensex pack.

All the Asian markets, advanced following the strong finish on the Wall Street last week. Hang Seng, Nikkei, Taiwan Weighted, Shanghai Composite, Straits Times and Seoul Composite are all in the green.

With the exception of Sweden's Stockholm General, all the European markets have edged higher.

During the last session, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 142.99 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 13,378.87. The Standard&Poor's 500 index jumped 16.87 points, or 1.15 per cent, to 1,479.37 and the Nasdaq Composite index ended up 34.99 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 2,576.69.

India's largest bank, by net profit, SBI jumped 6.60 per cent to Rs 1563 on 7.23 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex constituents. It has started the consolidation process with its associate banks by deciding to merge its wholly-owned subsidiary State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) with itself. SBS is the smallest of the seven associates banks. The boards of both SBI and SBS have given approval to the merger proposal on Saturday.

ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector bank, by net profit, advanced 5.85 per cent to Rs 883 on high volumes of 12.11 lakh shares. The Reserve Bank of India on Friday allowed foreign investors to purchase equity shares of the bank from the secondary markets in India as their holding had come down below the trigger limit of 74 per cent.

India's largest private sector steel manufacturer Tata Steel gained 3.72 per cent to Rs 604 on reports that it is targetting to more than double production by 2015. Tata Steel now has an annual production totaling 25.6 million tonnes. By 2015, Tata Steel hopes to add another 35 million tonnes to boost its worldwide annual production to 61.1 million tonnes.

India's largest thermal power generator by revenue NTPC was up 2.44 per cent to Rs 167.80 on reports the government plans to sell 4.75 per cent holding in the firm through follow-on public issue.

The proposed sale is aimed at increasing the free float of NTPC's shares in the market and help improve the company's valuation.

India's largest private sector entity by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 3.41 per cent to Rs 1,835 on 6.60 lakh shares. Industry obsevers say RIL has ventured into the construction business and will set up a Rs 450-crore pre-engineered building (PEB) facility in Gujarat. RIL has roped in Dubai-based Mammut Group as a joint venture partner for the plant, which is likely to be commissioned by the end of next year.

Oil prices fell today, boosted by worries over gasoline supplies in the US, the top energy consumer. US crude for October delivery fell 20 cents to USD 70.89 a barrel.

UNI