Sensex holds on to early gains; ICICI Bank, Bharti rally

The Sensex maintained its early gains on support from major sectors like banks, oil & gas, metals and capital goods. The recovery was backed by strong pullback in global equities after good macro data and better-than-expected Spanish bond auctions. Asian markets too continued their upmove; Taiwan Weighted shot up 4.5% and Kospi was up 3%. The Sensex was up 245.34 points at 15,420.42 and the Nifty jumped 73 points to 4,617.15.

Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares & Stock Brokers feels that the Nifty will cross 4,650 levels, but would find resistance around 4,720-4,750 levels as it is the main congestion area.

Index heavyweights ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel gained 5.5% and 4%, respectively.

Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, SBI, BHEL, Hindalco and M&M among others were up 2-3%.

Infosys, TCS, HUL, ONGC, L&T, Wipro and NTPC moved up 0.5-1%.

However, Ranbaxy lost 2%. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Auto, IDFC and HCL Tech were down 0.5-1%.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1499 to 915 on the BSE.

At 10:31 hours IST : Nifty holds 4600 on short covering; banks lead

The Nifty holds the 4600-mark led by short-covering, tracking strong global cues. Experts say this technical pullback was imminent after the sharp drop of more than 1000 points on the Sensex since last week. Capital goods, metals, banks, technology and oil & gas lent support today as the Sensex was up 227.46 points at 15,402.54 and the Nifty gained 65.60 points at 4,609.80.

Ambareesh Baliga, chief operating officer at Way2Wealth says that the rally could possibly take it to levels of 4700, but not beyond that.

Asian markets too were quite firm after good US housing starts for November and unexpected improvement in the German business sentiment index led US and Europe to close higher. Kospi was up 3% and Taiwan Weighted rallied 4%. Straits Times, Nikkei and Hang Seng gained 1.3-1.6%. However, Shanghai was off day's high, rising just 0.2%.

Back home, shares of ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank and BHEL topped the buying list led by short covering, rising 3-4%.

Ranbaxy Labs was the biggest loser among largecaps, falling 2.7%. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Power and Sun Pharma were down 0.5-1%.

In the midcap space, MVL, S Mobility, Gujarat Pipavav, Jain Irrigation and Puravankara Projects rallied 5-8%. However, Network 18 plunged 6% on profit booking; there were reports that Reliance Industries has denied buying stake in the company.

Shoppers Stop, A2Z Maintenance, Bajaj Electricals and ILandFS Transport fell 3-5%.

In the smallcap space, GTL shot up 12% as promoters are going to bring in personal guarantee worth Rs 2,500 crore. The lenders have agreed to transfer ICICI Bank