Markets Close Above 19K Mark After Two Months

The markets opened on a strong note today, as the Sensex scaled the 19k mark for the first time in two months. An uptrend was observed through the day so far, with the Sensex touching a peak of 19,196 a little after noon, encouraged by positive global cues. During the late noon session, the bourses were trading firmly in positive territory. At close, the bourses pared their late noon gains to end higher than the previous close; the Sensex ended at 19,121 up 178 points, while the Nifty closed at 5,736 up 49 points. Today is the sixth consecutive day the markets lodged straight gains of 1,300 points, or 7.2%, with robust buying seen in the auto, teck and metal counters. Worldwide too, the markets were on an upswing owing to bargain buys, and sobering oil prices, after the Japanese disaster of March 11 rattled investor sentiment globally. The broader markets underperformed today, with the Mid-cap index at 6,748, flat with  a negative bias, while the Small-cap index was down 0.4% at 7,976.