Bulls maintain strong hold as Sensex ends 414 pts higher; surges 1,359 pts in seven sessions

Equity markets showed no signs of fatigue as rally continued unabated for the seventh consecutive session on Monday, with benchmark Sensex surging 466 points intra-day to edge past 27,700 amid hopes of a better-than-expected monsoon for this month against earlier forecast of a subdued rainfall even as investors across the global keenly await the outcome of a Greece debt crisis, which has gained momentum over the last few days with creditors and the government of the crisis-ridden country engaged in a series of meetings to arrive at an amicable solution. [caption id=“attachment_2306882” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Tracking firm Asian markets trend, key indices sailed in positive territory through the session as investors feasted on realty, banking and consumer durable shares, which were at the receiving end in past few weeks after prospects of a weak monsoon and higher inflation worries sparked major sell-off in these sectors. The 30-share BSE S&P Sensex ended the session at 27,730.21, up 414.04 points, or 1.5 percent higher from previous close. The index came close to breaching the 27,800-mark but fell short of the mark to touch the day’s high of 27,782.31. The broader 50-share CNX Nifty, too, exhibited firm trend and ended higher at 8,353.10, up 128 points or 1.6 percent. Including today’s upsurge, the Sensex has vaulted 1,359 points or 5.1 percent in last seven trading sessions, while total market-cap of BSE increased by a whopping Rs 4.23 lakh crore to Rs 101.32 lakh crore during the period under review. Other Asian indices such as Japanese Nikkei and China’s Hang Seng ended 1.2 percent and 0.4 percent higher, while key European gauges such as FTSE, DAX and CAC were up over 1-3 percent in their early trades. Market breadth ended on a positive note with gainers outnumbering losers by nearly 2:1. Of the 2,769 scrips traded, 1,736 stocks advanced, while 924 stocks declined and 109 remained unchanged on BSE. Recovery in the broader market, however, failed to revive interest amongst the global investors, who remained net sellers of shares to the tune of Rs 2,131 crore in the last six trading sessions. Local banking shares notched up significant gains on hopes the revival in monsoon last week and improving domestic macro-economic readings would accelerate credit growth in coming months. Among the banking shares, Axis Bank jumped 3.6 percent to Rs 572, ICICI Bank rose 3.5 percent to Rs 315.15, SBI gained 2.2 percent to Rs 265.85 and HDFC Bank was up 1.8 percent at Rs 1,048.45. Realty stocks emerged outstanding performers on the bourses with BSE Realty index ending 5 percent higher at 1,420.38. Indiabulls Real Esate was the biggest gainer, surging 30 percent to Rs 54.75 following a media report that the promoter has plans to infuse Rs 538 crore to increase stake by 10 percent to 37 percent in the company. Among other realty gainers HDIL shot up 8 percent to Rs 95.60, DLF soared 7.6 percent to Rs 114.65 and Unitech was up 7.1 percent at Rs 8.14. Consumer durable stocks, too, clocked significant gains. Rajesh Exports flared up 7 percent to Rs 282.80, Symphony Ltd jumped 3.3 percent to Rs 2,345.45, Whirlpool rose 2.8 percent to Rs 745.85 and Titan was up 2.2 percent at Rs 366.20. However, index heavyweight Reliance Industries inched marginally lower to end 0.5 percent down at Rs 991.35. Excluding today’s fall, the RIL stock still was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack in last seven sessions, rising 13 percent during the period. Bajaj Auto was the second biggest performer in seven sessions, rising nearly 10 percent, while M&M jumped 9.8 percent and ICICI Bank was up 9.3 percent during the period. Data compiled by Kishor Kadam