Markets rebound, Sensex up 299 pts

The markets finally shrugged off the Satyam shock on Wednesday with benchmark Sensex recording a gain of nearly 300 points on buying support, led by market leader Reliance Industries and blue-chips Reliance Communication Infosys Technologies.
     
The BSE barometer, which had lost nearly 17 per cent in a string of losses since January 7 when Satyam fraud came to light, on Wednesday jumped 299.13 points to close at 9,370.49.      

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also shot up by 90.35 points at 2813.45.
      
Reliance Communications soared 10.38 per cent to come out as the biggest gainer among the Sensex stocks on Wednesday. Reliance Industries, the most valued private sector company, surged nine per cent as the stock looked more attractive following reports that promoters have increased their stake in the company to over 49 per cent as of December quarter.
     
IT bellwether Infosys which on Tuesday posted over 33 per cent growth for the December quarter rose for the second day in succession. With Wednesday's gain of 6.07 per cent, the software company has jumped over 12 per cent in two days. Mahindra & Mahindra, which launched the multipurpose vehicle Xylo was the another prominent gainer at 5.39 per cent.
      
RIL and Infosys together carry nearly 23 per cent weightage on the Sensex.
      
Expectations of further fall in inflation, the weekly data for which will be announced on Thursday, and  firm global trend weres other boosting factors for the equity markets.
      
Among sectoral indices, Oil & Gas index was the best performer on Wednesday at 5.85 per cent, followed by IT index at 5.02 per cent. Tech, reatly and metal indices also closed higher in the range of over 4 per cent.

Information Technology segment was the second best performer gaining 5.02 per cent to 2,255.42 after Infosys, the second-largest computer-services company, rose 6.07 per cent to Rs 1,304.85, extending Tuesday's gains as it reported record earnings.
    
Tata Consultancy jumped 2.99 per cent to Rs 538.45 before the release of its earnings on Thursday.
    
Teck index rose by 4.57 per cent to 1839.62, Realty index by 4.38 per cent to 1853.49, metal index by 4.18 per cent to 5057.89, power index by 2.97 per cent to 1746.74, auto index by 2.24 per cent to 2550.15, healthcare index by 1.99 per cent to 2878.82, consumer durable by 1.80 per cent to 1,834.36, capital goods by 1.78 per cent to 6508.71, PSU by 1.73 per cent to 5052.19 and FMCG index by 0.54 per cent to 1981.49.     

Banking index rose by 1.74 per cent to 5,215.67 as most of the lender stocks ended higher on expectations of benefit from treasury gains, especially a rally in bonds in the December quarter following steep cuts in interest rates.     

Stocks of Satyam Computer Services, hit by an accounting fraud, were trading down by Rs 1.30, or 4.16 per cent at Rs 29.95 as investors were concerned over the company's future. It touched the day's low of Rs 28.50.