The Sensex on BSE finished 181.42 points higher Thursday, or 1.22%, at 15,092.04.

The Sensex opened 53 points higher and trading was steady throughout the session. The benchmark index advanced to an intra-day high of 15,112.22 by late afternoon, and traded within a range of 148 points. Trading was not characterized by any volatility.

The market-breadth was very strong as there were two advancers for each decliner. From 2,713 stocks that were traded on the market 1,793 stocks advanced, 858 declined and 62 were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 25 advanced, while the rest declined.

The turnover on BSE soared to Rs 6,080 crore, much higher Rs 5,496 crore on Wednesday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 12,882 crore, also higher than Rs 11,183 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

Industrial production in India slowed its growth in May on higher interest rates which hurt demand, while the strong rupee impacted exports negatively. Industrial production advanced 11% from a year earlier, which is lower compared with the revised 12.4% rise in April and also missed analysts’ expectations for an increase of 12%.

Most Active

GMR Infrastructure was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 454 crore followed by DLF and Time Technoplast.

Advancers of the Day

Aluminium and copper large-cap Hindalco Industries surged 7% to Rs 166 on hopes of consolidation of global aluminum industry. Other metal stocks also advanced following the purchase of Alcan by Rio Tinto for $30 billion, suggesting further consolidation in the sector. Tata Steel gained 2.6% to Rs 672, Sterlite Industries was up 5.4% to Rs 643, and Sail added 4.7% to Rs 144.

Reliance Energy gained nearly 7% to Rs 668 as the company plans to invest Rs 60,000 crore to add 15,000 MW of power over the next five years which will improve the company’s generation capacity almost 17 times from 941 MW now.

BHEL ended up over 4% to Rs 1,641. Auto makers also rallied on fresh buying. Maruti Udyog advanced 2.7% to Rs 828, Tata Motors was up 1% to Rs 740 and Mahindra & Mahindra rallied 2.9% to Rs 803. Motorcycle producer Bajaj Auto advanced 3.1% to Rs 2,195.

Banks gained on the belief that there would be no interest rate hikes in the near future. State Bank of India advanced 1% to Rs 1,557, while private sector banks ICICI Bank gained 1.3% to Rs 967 and HDFC Bank surged 4.4% to Rs 1,201.

Decliners of the Day

Ambuja Cements led the decliners, down 1.2% to Rs 126, while ONGC lost almost 1% to Rs 893. IT large-caps underperformed with Infosys 0.4% lower to Rs 1,922 and Satyam dipped 0.3% to Rs 480. Larsen & Toubro was almost flat and finished at Rs 2,377.


6:30AM European markets advance with Alstom and Rio Tinto leading stocks higher.

European markets advanced in mid-day trading on Thursday. All but four national markets were lower, the other 14 gained with the U.K. FTSE 100 gaining 0.2%, Germany DAX adding 0.3% and CAC 40 in France climbing 0.4%.

Alstom SA soared the most since April after the company, which is maker of power plants, announced that sales grew 27%, fueled by increased investment in electricity grids. Miners were also upbeat with BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Rio Tinto leading the gainers. Rio Tinto has successfully completed the $38 billion deal of buying out Alcan of U.S. After Motorola in the U.S. posted a quarterly loss, Nokia advanced on the presumption that the U.S. company has lost market share to Nokia.

In Germany, Abbott Laboratories fell nearly 3% after General Electric called off a deal to buy two preventative health-care businesses valued at $8.13 billon. Also in Frankfurt, Alcoa rose on hopes that it could become a bid target.