Sensex jumps 317 points on hopes of better Q4 earnings

Encouraged by a recovery in global stocks, the market snapped a three-day losing streak as the benchmark Sensex gained 317 points on Thursday, led by IT and metal stocks.

Reliance Petroleum reported a net profit of Rs 84 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2009, raising hopes that other key corporates may announce encouraging Q4 results.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer settled the day at 11,134.99, a net rise of 317.45 points or 2.93 per cent over its previous close.

The Sensex had lost 206 points or 1.86 per cent in the last three days.

The National Stock Exchange 50-share Nifty also recovered by 93.40 points or 2.80 per cent to close at 3,423.70.

Brokers said the market rallied smartly in afternoon trade as Asian stocks, besides US index futures, traded in positive territory.

A forecast by the Meteorological Department of a near normal monsoon also boosted market sentiment, they added.

India's third-largest software services exporter Wipro was the top gainer with a rise of 13.62 per cent after its ADR jumped by 4.4 per cent in US markets on Wednesday.

Other major gainers included Tata Steel (8.98 per cent), Grasim (7.21 per cent), REL Infra (6.67 per cent), Sterlite (6.02 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (6.02 per cent), ICICI Bank (5.95 per cent), Tata Motors (5.64 per cent), Infosys Tech (5.11 per cent) and Reliance Ind (2.70 per cent).

The market breadth turned positive with 1,444 gainers against 1,053 losers on the BSE.

Among the BSE's sectoral indices, IT soared 5.22 per cent, metals 5.20 per cent, realty 4.21 per cent, auto 3.92 per cent and banks 3.16 per cent.

Key Asian indices such as the Hang Seng was up 2.26 per cent and the Nikkei 1.37 per cent while the Kospi and the Strait Times moved up marginally by 0.94 per cent and 0.90 per cent, respectively.

The trading volume fell to Rs 4,743.41 crore from Rs 5,023.93 crore on Wednesday. RIL continued to remain on top, showing the highest turnover of Rs 234.72 crore, followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 219.57 crore), HDIL (Rs 213.23 crore), REL Infra (Rs 196.82 crore and Tata Steel (Rs 179.55 crore).