Sensex advances 388.76 points

Mumbai, Feb 28 (FN Agency) The BSE Sensex on Monday rallied further by 388.76 points to close at 56,247.28 on renewed buying in metal materials, energy and oil and gas stocks. The Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too gained 135.50 points at 16,793.90. The Sensex gained 471 points at 55,329.46 in early trade. It spurted 466 points at 56,324.54, the day’s high, before closing at 56,247.28, up 388.36 points from its previous close. The Sensex registered the day’s high and low at 56,324.54 and 54,833.50 respectively. The Nifty recorded the day’s high and low at 16,815.90 and 16,356.38 respectively. The sectoral indices include metal, energy, materials and oil and gas stocks kept the market firm. Metal surged by 5.47 per cent, a major gainer, followed by energy by 2.90 per cent, materials by 2.71 per cent and oil and gas by 2.48 per cent. In scrips, Tata Steel surged 6.61 per cent to Rs 1,220.90 a major gainer followed by Powergrid by 6.03 per cent to Rs 209.20, Reliance Industries by 3.29 per cent to Rs 2,359.10, Titan by 3.11 per cent to Rs 2,544.65 and NTPC by 2.46 per cent to Rs 133.50.

The losers were Dr Reddy’s Lab by 2.81 per cent to Rs 4,063, M& M by 2.07 per cent to Rs 790.95, Axis Bank by 2.05 per cent to Rs 742.60, HDFC Bank by 1.99 per cent to Rs 1,426.70 and HDFC by 1.56 per cent to Rs 2,365. The Mid Cap rose by 0.83 per cent and Small Cap by 0.80 per cent. In 30 scrips, 17 advanced while 13 declined. There will be no trading in equity market on Tuesday for Mahashivratri. European stocks were seen weak on Monday as global markets track developments in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1.7 per cent in early trade, with banks plunging 5.7 per cent. However, Asian market went up as Japan’s Nikkei moved up 0.19 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi by 0.8 per cent. Hang Seng fell 0.24 per cent.