Nifty closes March series above 5250; Hero Honda up 4 per cent
25 Mar 2010
The benchmark Nifty closed above the 5250 on last day of March series. The indices were volatile with negative bias since opening of trade. But strong action in futures and options trade in last one hour of trade pushed the indices into green; Sensex surged over 100 points.
Banking, FMCG, capital goods, realty, metal, select technology and telecom companies' shares witnessed buying interest. Infosys and Bharti remained leader since beginning of trade today while Hero Honda, Hindalco, Sun Pharma and Reliance Power rose 3.5-4.6%.
However, ONGC, NTPC, HDFC, Tata Motors, Maruti, ACC, Reliance Communications, BPCL, ABB, Tata Power, Ranbaxy, Grasim and Suzlon Energy saw selling pressure, which capped the gains to major extent. Heavyweight Reliance Industries was flat.
The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,558.85, up 107.83 points or 0.62% and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 0.67% or 35.10 points to settle at 5,260.40. The Nifty April futures ended with 17 points premium, as per provisional data.
In the March series, both benchmark indices rallied around 8% each. Among largecaps, Reliance Inds and Bharti Airtel gained 14%. HDFC Bank rose 13%. Hero Honda surged 17%.
Pharmaceutical segment saw huge buying interest, might be post the US passed healthcare bill on Monday. Sun Pharma was up 3.5% and Cipla up 2%. Dishman Pharma, Divis Labs, Dr Reddys Labs, Elder Pharma, Pfizer and Piramal Health gained 0.9-2.7%. Wockhardt went up 3.91%. However, Ranbaxy lost 0.4%.
