Markets up second day in a row

IT rises on falling rupee

Hope sprang once more on the market, as it was expected that a fresh bailout package would be passed in lieu of the earlier $700 Billion bailout.

Investors bet on it as markets rode a wave of optimism, so diffident that it may as well be a ripple. Indian investors were a happy lot anyway, with the markets closing as it did in the black for the second day in a row. However the wild swings may not be over too soon.

A market report by Khandwala Securities said, "The volatility is likely to persist at least till early next week when the agenda of this week gets past and other matters - expected road shows by the Left and opposition on Ms Rice' Delhi visit and SEBI board meeting - are also resolved."

The Sensex closed at 13,067.94. This represents the second day in a row that the benchmark index has ended in the black. It has gone up by nearly 500 points since the markets opened after they shut down for the week-end. This still isn't a patch on the 900 points it slipped on the last two trading days of the previous week.

On Wednesday, they went up by 1.61%. The BSE opened with a positive bias of over 140 points and then went on to clear another sixty points to close over the 13000 mark. The rise was backed by the IT sector which went up 4.15%, while the Bankex and the Consumer Durables rose over 3%. Oil&Gas and Realty fell by 1.05% and 2.21%.

The Nifty was up by 0.75% or 29.55 points which took the Nifty up from its previous close of 3921.20 to end the day's trade at 3950.75. There were 35 advances among the Nifty with 14 declines. Satyam and HCL lead the gainer's list pulling up 7.08% and 5.84%. HDFC, Grasim and Tata Power were the other gainers on the list.

SAIL, L&T, RPL, Reliance and DLF populated the list of losers, dropping between 2.08% and 3.33%.  The Nifty still has a way to go before it reclaims the 4200 or even the 4000 mark given the uncertainty in the global markets. After the shock halt on the $700 billion bailout, global markets have been experiencing severe volatility.

World-wide, the equity markets seemed mildly optimistic today, with most markets in Europe trading with only small drops and a bit of an upside in others. Asian markets were marginally positive with the Hang Seng up by 0.76% and the Nikkei 225 up by 0.96%.

South Korea was down while many markets in Asia remained closed.