Markets witnessed sharp rally in second half of session and closed near days high. Strong value buying was seen in rate sensitives and infrastructure stocks, which lift broader indices up. Spectacular upmove in European markets and fall in crude oil price sprinkled positive feelings among investors.

Frontline indices shrugged off volatility. Sensex was inching towards 15000 mark but could not able to hit that level while Nifty touched 4500. It closed at 14,961.07, up 383.20 points or 2.63% after hitting an intraday high of 14,986.63 and low of 14,529.21. Nifty finished with a gain of 107.5 points or 2.45% at 4,502.85. It hit a high/low of 4515.15 and 4376.

Crude Futures hit a low of USD 118/bbl, a lowest level since May 5. It was trading at USD 119.38 a barrel on the NYMEX, at the time of writing market report. Jason Feer, Vice President and Singapore Bureau Chief of Argus Media feels that the crude demand growth from India, China is likely to plateau in the near-term. He also expects crude prices to be softer than H1CY08.

Most beaten down sectors saw huge value buying interest in todays trade. Rate sensitives like banking, auto and realty stocks gained smartly followed by infrastructure stocks like capital goods and power.

Amongst frontliners, HCL Tech shot up by 9.19%, ICICI Bank 8.24%, DLF 7.66%, Unitech 7.64%, Maruti Suzuki 7.38%, HDFC Bank 6.83% and Grasim 6.56%. However, Sterlite Ind lost 6.76%, Cairn India -4.14%, Tata Steel -2.28%, Tata Power -1.61% and Ranbaxy Labs -1.52%.

Banking stocks were biggest performers of the day. Bankex rose 450.37 points or 6.65% to settle at 7,217.98. IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, IndusInd Bank, Karnataka Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of India and Union Bank gained 6-9%.

Realty Index went up by 343.45 points or 6.56% at 5,575.07 due to buying in Phoenix Mills, Peninsula Land, Unitech, DLF, Sobha Developer, Omaxe, Mahindra Life and HDIL, which was up 6-10%.

Auto stocks like Ashok Leyland, Maruti Suzuki, Apollo Tyres, M&M, Cummins and Hero Honda jumped up by 4-10%. Index ended with a gain of 150.58 points or 4.10% at 3,819.17.

Power stocks also charged up, rose 2.42% at 2,720.61. Power Grid Corp, Reliance Infra, NTPC, GMR Infra, Torrent Power and Suzlon Energy gained 1.5%-4%.

Capital Goods Index rose 250.81 points or 2.09% at 12,279.77 as buying was seen in Elecon Engg, Crompton Greaves, AIA Engineering, Thermax, BHEL, Alstom Projects, Punj Lloyd and ABB.

Technology stocks like HCL Tech, Aptech, Patni Computer, Wipro, NIIT and I-Flex Solution moved up 2-9%. Index shot up 250.81 points or 2.09% at 12,279.77.

FMCG Index was up 1.67% to close at 2,160.29. GlaxoSmith Cons, Rei Agro, HUL, United Spirits and ITC were up.

Lower crude oil price has boosted oil stocks higher. Oil & Gas Index rose 130.66 points or 1.3% at 10,159.11. GAIL, HPCL, BPCL, ONGC, IOC and Reliance Ind went up 1.5-4%.

Healthcare Index gained 0.51% at 4,275.99. Fortis Health, Piramal Health, Bilcare, Wockhardt, Glenmark and Cipla were up around 2.8-6.6%.

BSE Midcap finished with a gain of 101.16 points or 1.76% at 5,843.88 and Small Cap Index rose 1.26% at 7,192.79. Amongst midcap stocks, ESS DEE, Elecon Engg, Phoenix Mills, Ashok Leyland, Peninsula Land and Bajaj Holdings were up 9%-18%.

In the small cap space, XL Telecom, Diamond Cables, NESCO, Genus Power, BPL and Vesuvius India moved up 10%-20%.

Telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel, Tata Comm, Idea Cellular and Reliance Comm also witnessed buying interest.

However, metal stocks lost ground as reports suggest that in order to control steel prices, government is planning to bring iron ore under price control. Sterlite Ind, Sesa Goa, Guj NRE Coke, JSW Steel and JindalStainless slipped around 3-7%.

Most active counters on the bourses were Reliance Ind, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, DLF and Ranbaxy Labs.

Market breadth was positive; 1908 shares have advanced while 1061 shares declined. Nearly 189 shares remained unchanged.

Total turnover traded in markets stood at Rs 76,918.42 crore. This includes Rs 17,272.43 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 52,692.78 crore from NSE F&O and Rs 6,953.21 crore from BSE Cash segment.

Asian markets ended lower. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Jakarta Composite and Taiwan Weighted fell 2-2.5%. Straits Times and Kospi slipped 0.5% each. Nikkei fell marginally.