The market makes a flat and range-bound opening today. Sensex started the day at 9607, up 23 points from its previous close, and Nifty is at 2917, down 2 points. However, market breadth remained positive with advances at 304 against declines of 128 on the NSE.
On Monday, Sensex ended on a buoyant note on account of sustained buying interest seen across board. Metal outperformed all other stocks followed by consumer durables, oil & gas and banking. Indian stock market started the day on a positive note with a gain of 58.14 points, at 9,359 on Monday in line with global markets on expectations of a massive stimulus package in the United States.
Sensex ended the day with a gain of 283.03 points, or 3.04 per cent at 9,583.89 after touching a high of 9,601.56 and a low of 9,329.23. The broad-based NSE Nifty climbed 76.80 points, or 2.70 per cent at 2,919.90 after hitting a high of 2,926.75 and a low of 2,840.15.
BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose 1.70 per cent and 1.63 per cent respectively. Among the sectoral indices, BSE Metal gained the most. Consumer durables rose 3.69 per cent, Consumer goods rose 3.59 per cent, Oil & gas gained 3.37 per cent and Bankex was up over 3 per cent each.
Major gainers in the 30-share index were Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Steel, Reliance Energy, Sterlite Industries, ONGC and Larsen & Toubro. Hindustan Unilever, which declined 0.27% was the only loser in the Sensex.
— Shailesh Shah
