Sensex ends 53 pts up on Sat session, down 1% for the week

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty closed higher in a special trading session on Saturday, but fell 1-1.5% for the week. Indices extended gains in a late trade led by banks, auto and metals stocks while the upside was capped due to fall in Reliance Industries, Bharti and Larsen & Toubro.

The BSE benchmark rose 53.09 points or 0.31%, to close at 17,187.34. The NSE benchmark closed above the 5200 level after struggling at the same level since Thursday; it went up 18.40 points or 0.35% to 5,209.

Banks led the markets higher today - country's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank jumped 1.5% after reporting a growth of 25% year-on-year in its net profit at Rs 1,277 crore for the January-March quarter 2012, strengthened by higher interest income.

ICICI Bank extended gains, rising 1%; it had rallied over 2% yesterday after better than expected numbers in Q4. HDFC Bank and HDFC were up 0.5% each. Top lender State Bank of India too gained 0.25%.

India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki climbed 1.3% ahead of quarterly numbers today. Analysts on average expect the company to report a growth of 2.5 times quarter-on-quarter in its net profit of Rs 530 crore for Q4FY12.

Auto companies will announce their monthly sales numbers for April next week; Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, M&M and Bajaj Auto rose 0.3-1%.

Metal stocks too closed in green - Sterlite Industries shot up 2% while rival Jindal Steel gained 0.8% after fourth quarter numbers.

State-owned ONGC and BHEL too were up 0.8% each. However, index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel were down just 0.1-0.3%.

In the second line shares, Lanco Infratech, GVK Power and United Phosphorous were up over 3-8%.

Divestment candidates - Hindustan Copper shot up nearly 15% and HMT rallied close to 10% amid very high volumes.

Fertiliser stocks too advanced quite sharply amid heavy volumes. National Fertiliser surged 16% and FACT rose 8% whereas Chambal Fertiliser was up 5%.

However, Viceroy Hotels fell 2% on profit booking; the stock had rallied more than 85% in a month.