It was a spectacular performance from the benchmark indices in today's trade, led by the positive cues from the US and the Asian markets. Steep rise was seen in realty, banking, metal, infrastructure (capital goods + power) and technology stocks. ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) stocks rallied strongly in the largecaps while textile stocks surged in the midcap space.

Better-than-expected revival in the US consumer confidence index and second list of government formation announced by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government helped the Sensex to post 500 points rally and the Nifty to surpass the 4250 level. The US consumer confidence index increased to 54.9 in May from 40.8 in April, as against expectation of 42. It was highest since September 2008. Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of the US economy.

The UPA government has released its second list of 59 Cabinet members. The government had already announced list of 19 Cabinet Ministers on Saturday. Vilasrao Deshmukh, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja, M S Gill, Pawan Kumar Bansal and M K Alagiri were among the 59 members.

The markets also gained strength after the comments from the country's finance minister, Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee. In his first official press conference, he said he would focus on infrastructure in the Budget and would also address long-pending reforms for the financial sector.

Mukherjee also said the fiscal prudence will need to be kept in mind. ''We are assessing the impact of the three doses of stimuli that have been already provided to the economy.''

The 30-share Sensex closed 520.41 points or 3.83% higher at 14,109.64, after hitting an intraday high of 14,122.78. The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 3.87% or 159.35 points, to settle at 4,276.05; it touched a high of 4286.45. Both the indices recouped all Tuesday's losses.

All the sectoral indices ended in the green. The BSE Realty, Bank, Power, Metal and Capital Goods indices were up 4-6%. Oil & Gas, IT, TECk, Auto and Healthcare indices rose 2-3.5%.

Entire ADAG pack was buzzing in today's trade, as ADAG management briefed fund managers on the business ahead on Tuesday. Reliance Infrastructure was up 14.72% and Reliance Power gained 12.4%. Reliance Natural Resources, Reliance Communications and Reliance Capital went up 6.02%, 4.34% and 7.64%, respectively.

Sectoral indices

The BSE Realty Index outperformed other indices, surged 6.09% or 202.03 points, to 3,516.77, as DLF gained 8.5% and Unitech was up 5.91%. Sobha Developer, Mahindra Life, HDIL, Orbit Corporation, Puravankara Projects, Parsvnath and Indiabulls Real were up 3-6.9%.

Banking stocks also witnessed huge buying interest; Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank surged 5-7%. The BSE Bankex shot up 412.14 points or 5.42%, to 8,017.30.

Power stocks charged up as well; GVK Power, Areva T&D, GMR Infra, Suzlon Energy, Torrent Power and Tata Power were up 2.4-7.8%. Respective Index went up 130.12 points or 4.89%, to settle at 2,788.50.

The BSE Metal Index rose 457.67 points or 4.67%, to 10,266.79, as Sterlite, NALCO, JSL, Tata Steel, Jindal Saw, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, Hindalco and SAIL gained 1-9.5%.

In the capital goods space, Siemens, Punj Lloyd, L&T, BHEL and ABB were up 2.5-7.3%. Respective Index was up 457.34 points or 4.24%, to 11,252.46.

Oil & Gas Index surged 3.46% or 333.40 points, to 9,971.35 led by ONGC, which surged 9.42%. Cairn India, BPCL, Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Industries, IOC and HPCL were up 1-5.4%. Nymex Crude July contract was up USD 0.66, to USD 63.11 a barrel.

Buying was also seen in technology space; Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech were up 9%. TCS, Infosys and Wipro gained 1.7-3.3%. The BSE IT Index was up 90.25 points or 3.17%, to 2,934.99.

In the telecom pack, Idea Cellular shot up 12.64% on unconfirmed stake sale rumours. The management categorically denied the same thing. MTNL and Tata Teleservices went up 10% and 3%, respectively. However, Bharti Airtel was down 0.19% and Tata Communications fell 4%.

Among others, the BSE Auto Index gained 2.31% or 112.10, to close at 4,432.22 and Healthcare Index went up 2.31% or 78.84 points, to 3,497.

The broader indices also witnessed huge buying interest and helped the market breadth to end at 7:1 on the NSE. The BSE Midcap Index rose 173.28 points or 3.67%, to 4,897.37 and the BSE Smallcap Index went up 3.37% or 189.08 points, to 5,797.74.

Among the midcap stocks, Ipca Labs, TV18, Bombay Rayon, Opto Circuits, Bharat Forge and India Infoline were up 12-15%. In the smallcap space, Garden Silk Mills, Suven Life Sciences, TV Today Network, Nectar Life and Arvind were up 20% each. 

Textile stocks like Alok Industries was up 14.5% and S Kumars rose 10%. Oswal Chemical gained 8%.

Volumes have been increasing ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday; total traded turnover stood at Rs 11,1068.98 crore. It comprised of 20,605.83 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 83,564.87 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 6,898.28 crore from BSE cash segment.  

The market breadth was strong; about 2391 shares advanced while 486 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 252 shares remained unchanged.

Global cues

At the time of closing of Indian equities, European markets were flat in trade. The FTSE was down just 3 points, to 4,408. However, the CAC was up 18 points, to 3,287 and the DAX gained 28 points at 5,013.

Among the US futures, the Dow Jones futures were up 26 points, to 8,487 while the Nasdaq futures fell 1.75 points, to 1,409.

Asian markets ended sharply higher barring Seoul Composite. Hang Seng shot up 5.26%. Taiwan Weighted and Straits Times gained 3% each. Nikkei, Shanghai Composite and Jakarta Composite were up 1.4-1.9%. However, Seoul Composite fell 0.73%.