Sensex Hits The Magical Mark

After consolidating in the noon deals, the Indian market moved higher in the last hour of trade. What helped the indices to break out of the tight range was the emergence of the Congress-led UPA government as a clear winner in the Karnataka assembly elections and the consequent end to the political uncertainty.

The Nifty closed up by 25 points at 6069 and Sensex was 135 points higher at 20,024 before closing at 19,990. Both indices closed up in the range of 0.43%-0.68%.

The market breadth remained in the positive zone. On the NSE, 657 shares advanced and 631 shares declined.

Top 5 NSE Gainers: HDFC emerged as the top gainer on the NSE, closing up by 4.75%, followed by ITC, Lupin, UltraTech Cement and IndusInd Bank.

Top 5 NSE Losers: Ranbaxy Labs closed the day lower by 3.11%. Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel and Bank of Baroda were the others in the list.

6 out of the 13 sectors ended in the positive zone. FMCG and Bankex were higher in range of 0.42%-1.82%. Capital Goods and Metal, though, ended in losses.

The Asian markets ended the day higher. Taiwan Weighted was up 1.26%, and Strait Times, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225 and Shanghai Composite were also in gains.

The European markets are trading in positives. CAC 40 is higher by 0.40%, DAX is up 0.37% and FTSE 100 has gained 0.15%.

Buzzers: Corporation Bank surged over 5% to Rs 398.55 after reporting better-than-expected net profit of Rs 356 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. This was supported by strong growth in its retail banking segment.

HDFC moved up by over 3% to Rs 881 on the NSE after reporting a 17% year-on-year jump in net profits to Rs 1555 crore for the March 2013 quarter.

Going ahead, the Nifty faces a stiff resistance around the 6090-6120 level.