Markets End in Green

Aggressive buying in IT, banking and select metal stocks led to a sharp late rally in the markets. Earlier in the day, the markets after a subdued start, exhibited choppy movement ahead and post RBI mid-term policy review. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its mid-term policy review today, kept the Cash Reserve Ratio and repo rates unchanged, and in a surprise move reduced the Statutory Liqudity Ratio (SLR) by 1%. The cut in SLR seems to be a positive from the RBI policy. While the IT stocks traded firm since the start of the day, the BSE IT index soared to a 10-year high, with Infosys and TCS striking record highs in trade today. Post policy, the bank stocks too witnessed fresh buying. The metals and realty later on joined the bandwagaon. The Sensex had slipped almost 100-points at the day's low point of 19,554. However, the steep recovery thereafter saw the index soar to a high of 19,897 - up 343 points from the day's low in of just two hours or so. The Sensex eventually ended with a gain of 217 points at 19,865. The NSE Nifty rallied 56 points to 5,949.