The Indian stock markets continued its upward surge from where it left last Friday on the back of firm Asian markets, which gained on the basis of strong closing posted by US markets over the weekend. The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) gained 394.67 points or 2.09% to close at 19,247.54 points. While the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surged 123 points or 2.19% to close the day at 5,731 points.
Dealers said markets took a cue from the American and the Asian markets which ended in positive in the last trading session of the previous week. They also said that short covering ahead of the futures and options expiry on Thursday, November 29 and fresh buying at the lower level kept the markets buoyant.
Amitabh Chakraborty, president-equity, Religare Securities, said, ?With the increased holiday spending in the US, sales of many companies in the Asian regions have increased and this has reflected on the stock prices. Taking a cue from the other Asian markets even the Indian stock markets have surged.? He further added that ?with the expiry of November?s derivatives contract, we might see some volatility in the next few trading sessions?.
However, intra-day profit booking saw the Sensex slipping to a low of of 19,137.66 points but sustained buying in heavy weight stocks like HDFC Ltd, Bharti Airtel and ONGC helped the Sensex end in positive. According to provisional data released by the stock exchanges (SEs), foreign players were net buyers only to the tune of Rs 50 crore, indicating a slowdown in their buying activity. However, their gross buying and selling was significantly higher than the average on Monday.