Radhika Kamath

Bullish sentiment continued to rock the markets, which ended the day on new highs. Brisk buying in blue-chip stocks helped the bellwether Sensex close above the 11,000-mark.

Markets, on Monday opened on a strong note and exuded strong optimism. There was heightened action across the board that propelled the indices to higher levels.

Sector focus

Metals stocks have been witnessing huge buying interest on signs of revival and prices firming up. The sector continued to attract investors on the back of sustained buying support. SAIL, which has gained about 25 per cent in the past few sessions added another 4.4 per cent. The counter was buzzing with over 410 lakh shares changing hands.

Tata Steel, Southern Iron and Steel, Bhushan Steel, JSW Steel, Sunflag Iron and Steel and Jindal Steel and Power also recorded smart gains. Non-ferrous metals space also added mettle to the market rally.

Hindalco climbed 3.2 per cent on the back of company's plans of raising funds in Australia to fund expansion. Hindustan Zinc and National Aluminium ended with respectable gains.

FMCG scrips witnessed renewed interest led by buying in HLL; the stock gained smartly by over five per cent to Rs 268.5 after the company had its stock rating raised by a leading foreign broking firm. ITC, Tata Coffee and William Tea also ended on a firm note.

Buzzing stocks

The stocks from the power and construction sector hogged the limelight. PBA Infrastructure shot up 6.9 per cent on the back of volumes of close to 44 lakh shares. The construction company received three orders worth Rs 142 crore to build roads and widen a river.

Hindustan Construction added 3.5 per cent following announcement that the group had won an order worth about Rs 4,300 crore to build a hydro-power project. Praj Industries was another stock whose counter was buzzing with huge volumes.

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Prism Cements, UCO Bank, Provogue India and Century Textiles also notched up significant gains.

Event-specific action

Emco moved up 1.4 per cent to Rs 707.4. The maker of high-tension transformers and electronic meters said its board approved raising the overseas investment limit in the company to 49 per cent from 30 per cent and raising of $50 million overseas through the sale of bonds or shares.

Kalpataru Power Transmission jumped 13.5 per cent after the maker of transmission-line towers said its board will consider a plan to give free shares and split the company's stock.

Mahindra Gesco Developers flared by 11.9 per cent to after the Indian real-estate developer, part of the Mahindra group said that it plans to set up a special economic zone to attract investments of more than Rs 9,000 crore.

Amara Raja Batteries, Areva T&D, Aurobindo Pharma, BL Kashyap & Sons, Berger Paints, Canara Bank, GAIL, Hindustan Motors, IVRCL and Mahindra Ugine were among the notable gainers in the broad markets.

Container Corp, Glenmark Pharma, Indo Tech Transformers, KEC International, Macmillan, Pratibha Industries, Raymond, Shoppers' Stop, Timex and Uniply Industries were prominent in the losers' pack.

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