Sensex takes support at 17000; auto, metals up

Across the board continued in Indian equities Monday following rise in other Asian markets. Fund flows and disvestment initiatives by the central government took benchmarks past psychological levels.

“Global market trend continues to be good and our government is also lending a supporting hand in the form of accelerated divestment programme. Plans to raise funds by 3G auction, can keep the market mood positive. Any close above 5100 on Nifty, will open up the possibility of Nifty moving into new territory in couple of weeks

Auto demand is booming and this will help a lot of auto ancilliary companies, which are likely to perform better in coming quarters. Key auto ancilliaries stocks like - Sona koyoLumax, Gabriel, Clutch auto, Sobros, Omax, ZF, Denso etc can be accumulated gradually for longer term,” said DD Sharma, senior vice president, Anand Rathi.

At 12:25 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 17,029.10, up 180.27 points or 1.07 per cent. The 30-share index hit a high of 17061.58 and low of 16893.11.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5052.75, up 53.80 points or 1.08 per cent. The broader index hit a high of 5065.45 and low of 4994.40.

“Trend deciding level for the day is 4987 / 16808. If Nifty trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 5030 – 5062 / 16950 - 17051. However, if Nifty trades below 4987 / 16808 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 4955 / 16707,” the report said.

BSE Midcap Index gained 1.41 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.37 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Auto Index moved 2.66 per cent up, BSE Metal Index surged 2.53 per cent and BSE Realty Index advanced 2.27 per cent. BSE IT Index was down 0.80 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki (3.95%), Sterlite Industries (3.11%), Tata Steel (3.07%), HERO HONDA (2.90%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (2.87%) were amongst the top Sensex gainers.

Losers included TCS (-1.11%), Wipro (-1.01%) and Infosys Technologies (-0.79%).

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1752 advances and 758 declines.