Sensex up by over 401 pts to end at six and a half month high

Frantic short-coverings on the last day of the April series as well as firm global cues helped the bellwether Sensex to rebound by 401.50 points to close at a six-and-a-half month high of 11,403.25.

Operators as well as speculators were seen covering short positions on the concluding day of the derivatives contract.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as well as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will remain closed on April 30 and May 1 for the Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra Day, respectively.

The firm trend indicated that the operators preferred to roll over their long positions to the May series rather than book profits at higher levels.

The BSE 30-share barometer resumed better at 11,091.56 and ended with a net rise of 3.65 per cent from its previous close.It had closed at 11,483.40 on October 14, 2008.

The Sensex, had tumbled by a whopping 370.10 points or 3.25 per cent on Tuesday.

Similarly, the 50-issue Nifty of the NSE also bounced back by 111.60 points or 3.32 per cent over Tuesday's close to settle the day at 3,473.95.

Recovery was so strong that all the sectoral indices ended in the green.

Stocks of IT, banking and refineries were at the forefront while besides Grasim, the other 29 Sensex counters recorded sharp to moderate gains.

The small-cap and mid-cap segments underperformed the Sensex.

Asian indices such as the Kospi today ended sharply higher 2.94 per cent, the Shanghai Composite 2.78 per cent, the Hang Seng 2.76 per cent, Straits Times 2.28 per cent and Taiwan Weighted 0.31 per cent.

European markets also exhibited a firm trend in their morning trading.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 256.85 crore on April 28, as per provisional data, while they pumped in Rs 7,213.50 crore in the current month till April 27.

From the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank was up 8.74 per cent, Jaiprakash Associates 6.85 per cent, Sterlite Ind 6.75 per cent, Tata Power 6.60 per cent and Infosys 5.29 per cent.

The market breadth turned positive with 1,433 counters gaining ground and 1,025 ending with losses on the BSE.

The trading volume moved down further to Rs 4,168.12 crore from Rs 4,255.07 crore on Tuesday. Unitech was the top-traded share with the highest turnover of Rs 321.39 crore, followed by RIL (Rs 185.71 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 184.76 crore).