MARKET UPDATE: Sensex rises 142 pts, metal shares lead rally

Surging for the seventh straight session, the benchmark Sensex on Thursday gained over 142 points to close at 29,462.27 boosted by sharp rise in metal shares after some firms won mines in ongoing coal block auction.

Stocks of Jindal Steel Power zoomed over 25 per cent.

Hindalco, Tata Power, Tata Steel and Sesa Sterlite rose in the range of 2-7 per cent.

Rate-sensitive capital goods and realty shares also saw buying on hopes of rate cuts as inflation slowed. Participants continue to bet on a growth-oriented budget, brokers said.

In volatile movements, the 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing but succumbed to profit-booking and stayed in the negative zone for a major part of the session. It hit the day's low of 29,108.15.

However, a flurry of buying in the last 90 minutes boosted share prices and helped the Sensex rebound and hit a high of 29,522.86 before closing at 29,462.27-a net gain of 142.01 points, or 0.48 per cent.

The bluechip gauge has now garnered 1,234.85 points in the seven straight sessions and is at three-week high levels.

"Today's market activity was the best example of volatility ahead of the budget...our domestic news flow has also turned positive in terms of strong response to bidding of coal blocks," said Kotak Securities, head - Technical Research, Shrikant Chouhan.

The wide-based NSE Nifty index rose by 26.20 points, or 0.30 per cent, to close at 8,895.30. Intra-day, it moved between 8,794.45 and 8,913.45.

As many as 20 of the 30 Sensex stocks closed with gains.

In the broader market, jewellery stocks such as PC Jeweller, Gitanjali Gems, Tribhuvandas Bhimji and Titan caught buyers' fancy after RBI relaxed gold import norms .

Sectorwise, Metal index rose by 3.82 per cent, followed by the Capital Goods (1.36 per cent), Realty (1.06 per cent), Power (0.86 per cent) and IT (0.79 per cent) among others.

Buying activity gathered momentum in small and mid-cap sector stocks as well. The BSE Smallcap index edged up by 0.10 per cent and midcap index gained 0.04 per cent.

Foreigners bought shares worth a net Rs 2,187.96 crore yesterday as per provisional data from bourses.

European markets were trading mixed on Thursday as tension over Greece's finances dampened the mood. Key indices in France and Germany moved up by 0.05 per cent to 0.11 per cent while the UK's FTSE was quoting down by 0.12 per cent.

In the Sensex, 20 scrips ended higher and 10 fell.

Major Sensex gainers include Sesa Sterlite (6.95 per cent), Hindalco (3.07 per cent), Tata Power (2.56 per cent), Tata Steel (2.29 per cent) and M&M (2.28 per cent).

L&T (2.13 per cent), HDFC (2.04 per cent), TCS (1.74 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.42 per cent), Infosys (1.34 per cent), Coal India (1.09 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki (0.96 per cent) also notched up moderate gains.

In laggards, shares of Wipro fell by 1.36 per cent, followed by Tata Motors 1.10 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.08 per cent and SBI 1.05 per cent among others.

Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, the Metal index rose by 3.82 per cent, followed by Capital Goods 1.36 per cent, Realty 1.06 per cent and Power 0.86 per cent.

The total market breadth turned negative as 1,508 stocks ended in red, 1,379 finished in green while 102 ruled steady.

The total turnover fell to Rs 3,876.12 crore from Rs 4,162.06 crore on Wednesday.