Nifty closes above 5200, records 12.5% in 4 weeks

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The market staged a stunning performance for the fourth consecutive week led by huge inflow of foreign money that resulted into sharp appreciation in the Indian rupee. Better than expected earnings at home, signs of softening interest rates after RBI's CRR cut, stabilisation in the Europe and gradual improvement in the US economic data helped the Nifty get back above the 200 DMA (daily moving average) of 5,204, rising 12.5% in four weeks. Even the Sensex jumped 11.5%.

Today, the BSE benchmark rose 156.80 points, to end at 17,233.98 and the NSE benchmark moved up 46.40 points, to close at 5,204.70.

Major largecaps and even second line shares have been witnessing value buying in the month of January, as they were beaten down very badly in 2011. Foreign insitutional investors bought more than Rs 9,000 crore worth of equity shares, which resulted into appreciation of 9% of the Indian rupee. The CNX Defty gained 21.5% in January.

Our market is looking better than what it did a few weeks back, says Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS. Attributing this improvement to a recovering Europe and US situations and better-than-expected corporate earnings at home, Kapoor told CNBC-TV18 that the momentum is likely to continue.

Given the improvements and with interest rates peaking out, hopes of rate a cut have gotten stronger which will aid FY13 earnings. The sentiment is much better, he said.

Today's move was also attributed to the Federal Reserve's move of keeping interest rates at 0-0.25% at least through late 2014.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and L&T gave a strong support to the market in second half of trade; gained 3.5% and 3.76%, respectively. Bharti Airtel jumped 3.66% and ONGC was up 2.2%.

Technology majors Infosys and TCS were up 2.3% & 1%, respectively.

Shares of Sterlite Industries topped the buying list, rising 5.5%. Tata Steel and Hindalco were up 1.7-3% while Jindal Steel fell 2%.

There was a mixed trend in auto stocks; Tata Motors shot up 4%. M&M and Maruti jumped nearly 2% while Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp tanked 2-3%.

Among banks and financials stocks, HDFC Bank and HDFC declined 1.3%; SBI was down 0.7% while ICICI Bank rose 1%.

Shares of BHEL tumbled nearly 3% ahead of its Q3 results, which came in after market hours. Numbers were in line with analysts' expectations.

FMCG majors ITC and HUL were down 2% and 0.5%, respectively. In the realty space, DLF and HDIL tanked 3.5%.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1783 to 1100 on the BSE. The BSE Midcap Index was up 0.66% and Smallcap up 1.3%.

Sugar stocks witnessed huge buying interest after reports that Prime Minister had formed expert committee to examine issues on sugar. Balrampur Chini Mills and Shree Renuka Sugars rallied 6.5%. Bajaj Hindusthan was up 4% and Triveni Engineering jumped nearly 12%.