Sensex ends 330 points up on global cues

With the bulls staying aggressive right through the session, the Sensex ended the day with a handsome gain of 330.25 points or 1.96% at 17,193.55, around 45 points off the day's high of 17,238.99.

The Nifty, which rose to 5215.40, closed at 5199.25, recording a gain of 111.95 points or 2.2%. Both Sensex and Nifty ended at their best closing levels since 9 November 2011.

Heavy inflow from foreign institutional investors almost right through the month has resulted in the Sensex gaining more than 11% in January 2012, its biggest surge in a month since September 2010.

With key bank stocks moving up sharply, thanks largely to stronger-than-expected results from ICICI Bank and reports of a likely capital infusion into State Bank of India, the Bankex went up by around 3.85% on Tuesday.

Realty and automobile stocks rose sharply on expectations of a rate cut. While the Realty barometer moved up by over 3.5%, the Auto index surged 2.37%. Metal, oil, information technology, power and healthcare stocks too closed on a high note. FMCG, consumer durables and capital goods stocks shrugged off a weak spell and forced their way up in the final hour.

Among Sensex stocks, only Coal India (down nearly 3%) and Maruti Suzuki (down 1.1%) ended notably lower. Hindustan Unilever lost 0.75%, while NTPC and ONGC, the other stocks to close on the negative side, ended marginally lower.

Nifty stock Punjab National Bank ended more than a percent down on weak results. Cairn India and Ranbaxy Laboratories also closed weak.

Hindalco ended with a handsome gain of 6.65%. Sterlite Industries (2.4%) and Jindal Steel (2.05%), Tata Steel (up nearly 2%) also moved up sharply.

ICICI Bank gained almost 6% thanks to strong results. The bank has posted a net profit of Rs 1728.10 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 as compared to Rs 1437.02 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. Total income increased from Rs 8444.75 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 to Rs 10483.73 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. In consolidated terms, ICICI Bank posted a net profit of Rs 2174.22 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 as compared to Rs 2039.40 crore.

State Bank of India surged 3.6% and HDFC Bank ended with a gain of 2.5%.

Automobile stocks Tata Motors (4.1%), Bajaj Auto (3.6%), Hero Motocorp (2.2%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (1.15%) closed with impressive gains.

Realty stock DLF spurted 5.3%. Sun Pharmaceuticals moved up by over 2.5%. BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Cipla, ITC, HDFC, Wipro and GAIL India also closed with notable gains. Tata Power and Larsen & Toubro too ended on a positive note.

Reliance Communications and Sesa Goa ended stronger by 7.35% and 7.15% respectively. IDFC and Axis Bank gained over 6%. Reliance Power (5.1%), Reliance Infrastructure (4.7%) and Kotak Bank (up nearly 4%) also closed on an upbeat note.

BPCL, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Power Grid Corporation, HCL Technologies, ACC, SAIL and Grasim Industries too posted impressive gains.

Top gainers | Worst losers | More tips

Tata Global Beverages jumped following the company forming a JV with Starbucks. KSK Energy, Titan Industries and Suzlon Energy moved higher on stock specific stories.

With several stocks from midcap and smallcap sections surging higher, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained nearly 2% and 1.5% respectively. The market breadth was pretty strong.