Sensex ends 135 points up on strong global cues

Data showing heavy buying by foreign institutional investors over the past several sessions, some upbeat U.S. economic data and easing worries about the Greek debt crisis triggered some strong buying on the Indian bourses this morning and lifted the key Indian stock indices Sensex and Nifty to their highest levels since 1 August 2011 and 26 July 2011, respectively.

After moving in a tight band for close to three hours, the market did retreat a bit in late afternoon trade on profit taking, but still managed to end the session on a fairly upbeat note on Friday.

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The Sensex, which rose to 18,423.06, dropped down to around 18,235, but recovered a bit to eventually end the day with a gain of 135.36 points or 0.75% at 18,289.35

The Nifty, which spurted to 5606.70, ended the session with a gain of 42.35 points or 0.77% at 5564.30.

Power stocks had a strong outing, buoyed by a favourable court ruling that has paved the way for state run power generation major NTPC to place bulk orders for boilers based on supercritical technology.

Capital goods stocks, which have come a long way from the dismal lows they touched late last year, had another good session. Information technology and bank stocks too mostly ended on a firm note. Realty stocks gave up some gains due to profit taking. FMCG and oil sectors witnessed stock specific activity. Pharmaceuticals, metal and automobile stocks attracted profit taking and ended mostly subdued.

After a good spell in positive territory, several midcap and smallcap stocks drifted down and gave up most of their gains.

BHEL shot up to Rs 325 on hectic buying and despite coming off that high and settling at Rs 303.45, posted a gain of over 6.5%. Tata Power notched up a gain of 4.7%. Mahindra & Mahindra surged 3.3%, while Sterlite Industries, State Bank of India, Wipro and NTPC gained 2.3% - 3%.

DLF (1.8%), Infosys (1.65%), ICICI Bank (1.35%) and Coal India (1.2%) also ended notably higher. ITC, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever and ONGC closed with modest gains.

Axis Bank, Siemens, HCL Technologies, Reliance Power, Ambuja Cements and ACC gained 2% - 4.5%. Grasim Industries, Punjab National Bank, IDFC, Power Grid Corporation, Reliance Communications, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Kotak Bank also ended on a firm note.

Automobile stocks Hero Motocorp (down 3.6%), Maruti Suzuki (down 2.7%), Bajaj Auto (down 1%) and Tata Motors (down 0.7%) ended on a weak note on profit taking.

Sesa Goa drifted down by over 3.5% and Hindalco lost around 2.3%. Reliance Infrastructure too ended lower by about 2.3%. BPCL, Cairn India, GAIL India, Cipla, Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel also closed weak.

Among BSE 'A' Group stocks, Lanco Infratech jumped by over 11.5%. JSW Energy ended with a gain of 8.3% and Titan Industries moved up by nearly 8%.

Financial Technologies rose sharply ahead of initial public offering from Multi Commodity Exchange. Thermax, Adani Enterprises, Shree Cement, Petronet LNG, Apollo Tyres, Indiabulls Financial Services, Jain Irrigation Systems, Adani Power and Indian Overseas Bank were among the other major gainers in BSE 'A' Group.

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Dish TV India, United Phosphorus, Jet Air India, Crisil, Pidilite Industries, Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals, Jubilant Foodworks, MMTC, Neyveli Lignite Corporation and Pantaloon Retail lost 3% - 5%.

Voltas, Indiabulls Real Estate, Exide Industries, Educomp Solutions, Sintex Industries, Ashok Leyland, Fortis, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Idea Cellular and Hindustan Copper also declined sharply on profit taking.

The market breadh was slightly weak at close. Out of 3096 stocks traded on BSE, 1394 stocks moved up. 1583 stocks declined and 119 stocks ended flat.