The stock markets remained buoyant on Monday after a long week-end, with the benchmark Sensex posting a gain of nearly 295 points to settle the day at above 15,000 level, riding on a surge in banking stocks.
The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange regained the 15K level to end at 15,289.40, up by 294.57 points from its last Wednesday’s closing level. The index is crossing this crucial level for the first time since March 17 when it fell below this level on heavy selling triggered by global cues. In volatile trade, the key index moved in a range of 15,351.31 and 15,056.09 points.
The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also firmed up by 35.90 points to end at 4,609.85 from its previous close.
Meanwhile, Asian markets gave mixed bag of signs. While the key indices in Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea were up by 0.50 per cent to 3.99 per cent, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down by 4.49 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei was lower by 0.02 per cent. Wall Street shares had soared last Thursday as declining commodity prices helped offset worries about the economic slowdown.
Brokers said volatility increased on the bourses ahead of the expiry of March 2008 derivative contracts on March 27. The surge in Sensex was aided mainly by the bankex which shot up by 3.32 per cent. Private sector banking major HDFC soared 7.73 per cent, the highest among the index-related stocks.
The country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank too firmed up by 4.98 per cent. The other prominent gainers were HUL, HDFC Bank and Wipro, which ended higher in the range of 4-6 per cent.
Major losers
Among the losers, Tata Steel, which was down by over 7 per cent, led the pack. Maruti, JP Associates, DLF and REL lost in the range of 1-6 per cent.
The bankex was up by 249.09 points at 7,744.35 and capital goods index by 130.19 points to 13,225.91. However, the metal index dropped by 710.94 points to 12,787.61.
Realty index was down by 281.52 points to 6,806.18, small cap index by 272.08 points to 6,950.12 and mid cap index by 158.57 to 5,805.53.
The trading volume was dropped sharply to Rs 4,682.75 crore from the last weekend’s level of Rs 5,796.91 crore. RIL was the most active share with the highest turnover of Rs 201.99 crore followed by GSS America (Rs 198.77 crore), RNRL (Rs 189.86 crore), Reliance capital (Rs 179.72 cr) and ICICI Bank (Rs 165.99 core).