Markets Ends the Year With 17 Per cent Return

The benchmark indices steadfastly maintained the impetus of the past three trading sessions to sign off the last day of 2010 in style. Riding on the back of continued strength in the Asian markets and the aftermath of smooth rollovers into the January F&O series, the Sensex gained 120 points or 0.5 per cent at 20,509 and the Nifty added 32 points at 6134. The broader markets outclassed the benchmark indices by spurting more than a percent, with the midcap index ending at 7802, higher by 88 points and the small cap index ending at 9670, up 117 points. 2010 has turned out into a good year for the investor community, with the markets providing returns in the region of 17 per cent during the calendar year. The cues were favourable on the Asian front, to begin with. The key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan rose between 0.1 per cent and 1.7 per cent each. Singapore's Straits Times declined by 0.7 per cent to count as the only exception. And stock markets in Japan, Indonesia and South Korea were closed on account of the new year holidays. Wall Street had closed slightly lower on Thursday as better-than-expected economic data wasn't enough to entice buyers to take risk; the Dow ended down 15 points at 11,569 and Nasdaq ended poorer by three points at 2,662. But trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could gain 10 points at the opening bell.