Metals lift markets further; Nifty closes over 4,900

The markets continued their upward journey for the second day today with the benchmark Sensex surging 202 points on sustained rally on the metal counters following a firming trend in the world markets.

Tracking world bourses, the benchmark indices rallied to new highs in the opening trade with the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark gaining 191 points and the wider Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange ratcheting up 57 points.

The Sensex, which had gained 188 points yesterday, rose further by 202.23 points to close at 16,428.91 points, after touching a high of 16,480.89.

Similarly, the wide-based Nifty 50 closed well above the psychological 4,900-mark by shoring up 58.25 points at 4,914, in continuation to a rise of 53.80 points yesterday.

Today's gains were driven by continued buying interest in metal stocks, followed by consumer durables, besides gains in Reliance and Bharti. However, profit booking in IT stocks after two days of rally capped further gains today.

Marketmen said while strong Asian markets led to an opening surge, a better opening in Europe markets boosted the afternoon trade.

The global markets have apparently shrugged of the still lingering Eurozone debt worries and the monetary tightening measures by China last week. The Asian surge was triggered by an overnight rally on the Wall Street on better data and better-than-expected earnings numbers. Marketmen said expectations are running high among investors after the Reserve Bank said it is not advisable to target just inflation as policymakers have to consider the need for economic growth as well.

Tata Steel, the biggest producer of the alloy, jumped the most in more than two months by gaining Rs35.05 to Rs584.90, after its Q3 results beat the market expectations.

Buying gathered momentum in the second half after the finance minister said the economy will grow by 7.5% this fiscal and over 8.5% in the next fiscal.

The Sensex leader Reliance rose by Rs14.60 to Rs1,032 and other index-linked metal majors like Tata Steel, Sterlite,
Hindalco and JSW Steel gained on all-round buying.

The consumer durable sector index gained the most by rising 3.34% to 4,117.02 followed by metal index by 3.24% to 16,435.14 after Tata Steel soared 6.37% to Rs584.90, its biggest one-day gain since November 30. The company climbed after posting a group profit for the first time in four quarters and predicting a revival in demand at its European business.

The banking index rose by 1.75% to 9,605.45, capital goods index by 1.24% to 13,279.09, auto sector index by 1.20% to  7,119.36, oil and gas index by 0.97% to 9,925.57 and FMCG index by 0.61% to 2,770.78. However, realty and II sectors fell and capped the upsurge to some extent.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 22 gained while the rest closed with losses