Rally in oil & gas, banks, IT, FMCG drive Nifty above 5550

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Equity benchmarks rallied sharply on the back of buying in almost all sectors, tracking positive global cues. Oil & gas, financial, technology and FMCG were the leading sectors on Nifty.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 292 points at 18,524 and the 50-share NSE Nifty surged 97 points to 5,570 at 14:47 hours. About three shares advanced for every one share.

On the global front, European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were trading 1-2% higher. Asian markets too rallied in late trade - Nikkei, Kospi, Taiwan and Hang Seng went up 2% each. Shanghai, which was in the red, rose 1.4% and Straits Times moved up 0.6%.

All sectoral indices were in the green - the BSE Realty, FMCG and Bank indices climbed 2% each. Metal, Power, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas and IT indices gained 1-1.5%.

Jaiprakash Associates, DLF, Sun Pharma, Reliance Infrastructure, ITC and HDFC Bank were top gainers, with rising 3-5%.

Even the broader indices were following the same trend - the BSE Midcap Index was up 1.7% and Smallcap up 1%.

Midcaps

Punj Lloyd shot up 16% on huge volumes. Gujarat Pipavav, Sterling International, JSL Stainless and Gujarat Gas were up 7-13% while Patni Computer, Educomp Solutions, AstraZeneca, M&M Financial and Network 18 lost 2-3%.

Smallcaps

PVR, Fulford, Prakash Steelage, Kothari Product and Nagarjuna Agric jumped 8-13%. However, Smartlink Network plunged 34% as it goes ex-dividend (Rs 30/share).

Ashapura Minechem, Consolidated Construction, Simplex Project and Kalyani Invest slipped 5-11%.