Markets rally on FII buying, short covering

Updated: Friday, January 25, 2013, 15:45 [IST]

Markets rallied sharply in trade today led by buying in frontline stocks from foreign funds and on short covering. The Sensex surged 179 points, while the Nifty rallied 55 points in trade.

Leading the gainers in trade today was Bank of Baroda which jumped sharply by 4 per cent, with other stocks like Jaiprakash Associates, Mahindra and Mahindra, Punjab National Bank and Tata Motors joining the list of gainers.

Nifty stocks that lost ground in trade today were cement players including Ultratech and ACC. Other Nifty stocks that shed gains were HDFC and Tata Power.

Auto stocks were in the limelight following severe selling pressure witnessed on Thursday. Maruti led gains after the company reported a decent set of Q3 numbers. Other auto stocks that gained in trade today were Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors.

PSU banking stocks that came in for severe selling pressure on Thursday also rallied with notable gainers being Andhra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank and Syndicate Bank.

Realty stocks that were badly battered on Thursday saw buying interest with stocks like Anant Raj, DB Realty, Sobha Developer and Unitech jumping in trade. HDIL which shed more than 20% on Thursday, recovered and closed higher by 12 per cent.

Shares of Suzlon rose more than 14 per cent after reports that banks had agreed to a rejig of loans at the company.

Biocon also ended the day with gains after the company posted a 9.38% increase in its consolidated net profit for Q3 FY 2013.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia closed mixed with the Japanese Nikkei jumping almost 3 per cent in trade today, while the Chinese and the Hong Kong indices ended with losses.

Indian markets are likely to await the RBI credit policy next week, which will be the next big trigger for the markets.

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