The benchmark indices gained strength in the last hour of trade ahead of the government's much-awaited announcement on the budget date. The Union Budget would be held on July 3, 2009. The Rail Budget would be presented on July 1 while the Economic Survey would get announced on July 2.

This rally was led by infrastructure (capital goods + power), telecom, pharma, banking, realty and select cement stocks, which helped the Sensex to close above the 15,000 mark for the first time since September 2, 2008. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices and kept the market breadth strong.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 137.78 points or 0.93% higher at 15,008.68, after seeing an intraday high of 15,026.03 and low of 14,599.43. The 50-share NSE Nifty touched an intraday high of 4582.20 and low of 4453.45, before closing at 4572.65, up 0.93% or 41.95 points.

L&T, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Bharti, HUL, BHEL, Reliance Industries, Reliance Communication, Reliance Infrastructure, DLF and HDFC Bank were being supportive to the markets. However, the sell-off in metal and select technology stocks capped the gains.

Sectoral indices

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty and Capital Goods indices gained 3.2% each. Healthcare and Power indices rose 2.3-2.6%. Bank and FMCG indices went up 1-1.3%. However, Metal Index fell 2.11% and IT Index declined 0.5%.

In the capital goods space, Suzlon Energy shot up another 8%. ABB, Punj Lloyd, L&T, Siemens and BHEL were up 2-5.6%.

Among the power stocks, Torrent Power was up 10%. Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, GMR Infra and GVK Power gained 2-4.6%. However, Tata Power was down 1%.

Buying was also seen in realty and financial sectors. Sobha Developer surged 10%. Omaxe, Akruti City, Orbit Corporation, Parsvnath, HDIL, Puravankara Projects, Indiabulls Real, DLF and Unitech were up 2.8-5.7% in the realty space.

In the financial pack, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra and ICICI Bank gained 2-2.6%. HDFC Bank was up 1.04%. PNB and SBI were up just 0.14-0.34%. HDFC went up 2%.

Tata Teleservices, Tata Communication, MTNL, Reliance Communication and Bharti Airtel gained 2-9.7% in the telecom pack.

Among the FMCG stocks, Marico, Ruchi Soya, HUL, Nestle and Tata Tea were up 1.4-7.5%. In the oil & gas space, Reliance Industries was up 0.49% and Reliance Petroleum rose 0.28% while ONGC fell just 0.10%.

Pharma stocks witnessed buying interest as well; Sun Pharma Advanced, Ranbaxy Labs, Glenmark, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddys Labs shot up 4-8.7%.

In the auto pack, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors were up 2-2.8% while Bharat Forge, Ashok Leyland, Hero Honda and M&M declined 1-3.6%. In the technology space, TCS was up 1.83% and HCL Tech gained 0.52% while Wipro and Infosys fell over 1%.

However, metals remained under pressure throughout the session. Sterlite, NALCO, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Sesa Goa, SAIL, Jindal Steel and Jindal Saw slipped 1-5.9%.

The markets reported turnover more than Rs 1 lakh crore mark again, which stood at Rs 1,02,406.10 crore. It comprised of Rs 26,316.70 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 66,932.80 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 9,156.60 crore from BSE cash segment.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap Index was up 2.26% or 120.54 points, to 5,446.08 and the Smallcap Index settled at 6,525.19, up 140.27 points or 2.2%.

In the midcap space, Jaiprakash Hydro, Nirma, Engineers India, Atlas Copco, Max India and Bajaj Hindusthan were up 12-20.6%.

In the smallcaps, Lakshmi Machine shot up 28.60%. Swaraj Mazda, Savita Chemical, Zodiac Clothing, Infomedia 18, Sahara One and Sunflag Iron surged 20% each.

In the media sector, Zee News, Adlabs Films, Deccan Chronicle, Dish TV India, HT Media, Jagran Prakashan and Balaji Telefilms were up 2-4.7%.

Market breadth was positive due to gains in broader indices; about 2164 shares advanced while 717 shares declined. Nearly 257 shares remained unchanged.

Global cues

At the time of closing of Indian equities, European markets were trading marginally higher. The FTSE was up 1.29 points, to 4,384. The CAC rose 17 points, to 3,326 and the DAX gained 51 points at 5,105.

Among the US futures, the Dow Jones Futures went up 41 points, to 8,710 and the Nasdaq Futures rose 3.50 points, to 1,481.

Commodities

Crude July contract was trading at USD 67.13 a barrel, up USD 1.01. 

Gold was up USD 2.68, to USD 965.98 an ounce while Silver fell just USD 0.18, to USD 15.16 an ounce.

Global cues:

Asian markets were trading lower. Hang Seng and Taiwan Weighted declined 2-2.4%. Shanghai Composite, Jakarta, Straits Times and Kospi fell 1-1.7%. Nikkei was down 0.6%.