Nifty ends above 5400 for 1st time since Aug 2011

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The 50-share NSE Nifty closed above the 5400 mark on Thursday, for the first time since August 3, 2011. It was completely lacklustre since the opening trade today, but it strengthened quite nicely in late trade with support from banks, technology and metals stocks. The market managed to cross this psychologically important level after seeing consolidation in a range of 5,320-5,400 this week.

The BSE benchmark rose 123.43 points or 0.7%, to close at 17,830.75 and the NSE benchmark gained 44.20 points at 5,412.35. The benchmarks rallied more than 19% since December (2011) lows, a rally led by foreign money. Foreign institutional investors pumped in more than Rs 18,000 crore in Indian equities since January 2012.

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However, experts are cautious on the market, after such a one way rally. They expect serious correction in the near-term.

Dilip Bhat of Prabhudas Lilladher said he would lean more towards caution at the current rates. "I still maintain that markets will correct and probably there could be serious correction even in the longer run," he added.

Among sectoral indices - the BSE Metal, Realty, Bank and Auto indices gained around 2%; IT and Power were up over 1%.

Shares of Sterlite Industries topped the buying list, rising 4.6% and Jindal Steel jumped nearly 4%. However, Hindalco closed 1% lower, though it recovered sharply from day's low post third quarter numbers (stock was down 7% before results).

Among banks, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank climbed 2-2.8% while SBI gained just 0.3%. Technology majors Infosys and TCS moved up 1.4% & 0.7%, respectively; Wipro rose over 2%.

Auto stocks like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and M&M rallied 2-3%. Power stocks too charged up - Reliance Power surged 5% and Tata Power went up over 3%; NTPC gained 1.6%.

However, major largecaps like Reliance Industries, ITC, L&T, Bharti and ONGC were down 0.5-1%.

The broader indices outperformed benchmarks - the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices advanced over 1%. Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1840 to 1039 on the BSE.

In the second line shares, Puravankara Project, HCC, Hotel Leela and Jubilant Foodworks shot up 9-13%. Smallcaps like Gati and Dhanlaxmi Bank rallied over 17%.

However, Manappuram Finance and Muthoot Finance tumbled around 6% after sources claimed that RBI is considering rules to regulate the gold loan segment.