“A lot of short positions have been built in the markets, which led to a short-covering resulting in a rally. We would see more of these for the next two days,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of the capital markets arm and director of India’s fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC Group.

1. Markets move north, Sensex gains 329 points
January 28th, 2009
Mumbai, Jan 27 (IANS) Indian equities markets closed trade Tuesday in the green
owing to short-covering by investors, with a key index gaining 3.8 percent over its
previous close.The sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (Sensex) closed
at 9,004.08 points, 3.8 percent or 329.73 points higher than its close Friday.
“A lot of short positions have been built in the markets, which led to a short-
covering resulting in a rally. We would see more of these for the next two days,”
said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of the capital markets arm and director of
India’s fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC Group.
At the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange was
at 2,771.35 points, 3.46 percent higher than its previous close of 2,678.55.
Broader market indices were also up with the BSE midcap index going up 0.62
percent and the BSE smallcap index gaining 0.34 percent.
All 13 sectoral indices on the BSE ended in the positive terrain, with metal and
power stocks leading the list. Market sentiment was positive with 1,217 stocks
advancing and 1,168 declining. Hundred stocks remained unchanged.
Of the 30 stocks comprising the Sensex, 28 scrips ended in the green. Among
major gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite (up 11.84 percent at Rs.267.80),
Reliance Infra (up 11.14 percent at Rs.539.60) and Reliance Communications (up
7.15 percent at Rs.171.60).
Top losers were Oil and Natural Gas Corp (down 3.84 percent at Rs.621) and
Larsen and Toubro (down 0.41 percent at Rs.638.20). In Asian markets, a key
index of the Tokyo stock exchange, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, was up 4.93
percent at 8,061.07 points. However, the Hang Seng, a key index of the Hong
Kong Stock Exchange, fell 0.63 percent over its last close.