Markets End on a Positive Note

The markets surged in late noon trading to cap a firm session of trade, sans the volatility of the previous two weeks and the choppiness that marked the trading activity on Monday. Arresting the downtrend, atleast for now, the Sensex regained the 19K mark and made further in roads to end at 19092, higher by 209 points, and the Nifty ended at 5724, up 69 points. On the broader market front, the mid cap index ended at 7137, up 14 points and the small cap index ended at 8880, up 12 points. The rally on the European bourses would have been a major sentiment booster back home. The CAC, DAX and FTSE have gained in the region of a percent each in mid-day trading. The Asian markets, however, had a mixed session of trade. The Hang Seng reversed earlier gains to trade lower by 0.2 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei received a boost from property and banking shares to edge higher by 16 points at 10,518. Seoul edged down 0.2 per cent, hurt by falls in autos and petrochemical companies and Korea Composite ended down 0.1 per cent at 2,096 points. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.1 per cent at 2708. Wall Street was closed on Monday on account of the Martin Luther King holiday.