Sensex touches 19K

The benchmark Sensex has touched an important psychological 19,000 mark today, for the first time since May 3, supported by firm global cues post lawmakers passed the crucial second austerity vote for Greece. There was a bit of volatility in the market.

ONGC shot up 5% to Rs 288 a share on likely royalty payment from Cairn.

CCEA has cleared Cairn-Vedanta deal with some conditions yesterday, wherein Cairn India will have to pay royalty to ONGC.

AK Hazarika, Chairman ONGC said benefit to ONGC would be minimum of Rs 18,000 crore. However, Carn India was down nearly 2%.

Vedanta group companies like Sterlite and Sesa Goa gained 1.5-2%.

DLF, HCL Tech, Reliance Power, Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, ACC, Ambuja Cements, Hindalco, GAIL and M&M were on buyers' radar.

BSE Sensex rises 0.5%

The BSE Sensex gained 0.5 percent in early trade on Thursday, with financials leading the rise, taking cues from firm Asian markets.

At 9:17 a.m., the 30-share BSE index was up 0.53 percent at 18,792.02 points, with 28 components advancing.

The 50-share NSE index was up 0.5 percent at 5,630.35.

Nifty extends rally

Indian equity benchmarks were consistently trading higher ahead of F&O expiry tomorrow, supported by foreign money. Foreign institutional investors had bought more than Rs 4,000 crore worth of shares in last four days. Even the volume has been increasing.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was facing resistance at 5600-mark, which gained 61 points to 5,606. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,710, up 218 points though there was profit booking at higher levels.

Sensex surges

The NSE Nifty continued to hover around its psychological 5600 mark. All sectoral indices were trading in green. The BSE FMCG index has outperformed other sectoral indices, rising over 2%. Metals, power, IT  and banking stocks too have surged.

The BSE broader indices - midcap and smallcap were up by nearly 1% each.

Ambareesh Baliga, COO, Way2Wealth says the pullback is due to short covering. “The current rally may not be sustainable."

He further says because of futures and options expiry tomorrow theNifty may go towards 5,600-5,650. But he doesn’t see the index moving beyond 5,600-5,650. There will a dip in the market and people should use that dip to buy. He reiterates his prediction of a bull run post August-September."

Sensex gains.............

The benchmark Sensex was moderately up in the opening trade on Tuesday, supported by banking, capital goods, power, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and select metal companies' shares. TheNifty was hovering around the 5500 level.