Good Friday on the bourses, Sensex surges 513 pts to retake 18K

It is 'Good Friday' on the bourses, with the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index - Sensex - climbing 513.19 points (2.89 per cent) to close at 18,240.68, and the National Stock Exchange's broader Nifty index rising by 151.25 points (2.84 per cent) to 5,471.25.

Heavy buying of blue chips after falling crude prices led to the spurt in the market, along with easing concerns of an imminent fuel price hike. A Press Trust of India report quoted Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy saying that "his ministry has made no specific proposal on increasing auto and cooking fuel prices for consideration by the EGoM (empowered Group of ministers) on fuel prices later today."

Following the announcement of release of 60 million barrels of oil, by the International Energy Agency (IEA), crude oil prices dropped by 4.6 per cent to $91.02 in New York on Thursday. The move is strategic as the release is the biggest amount of oil to be released from IEA's emergency strategic stocks since 1991, and a warning shot aimed at OPEC, the oil producers' cartel.

"Friday's rally was mainly in response to the fall in crude prices by almost 4%," says Sanjeev Zarbade, Vice President (Private Client Group Research), Kotak Securities. "If crude prices continue to soften in the next few days, then market may add to its gains."

The positive sentiments have reflected across the market, with key indices apart from the Sensex and Nifty also rising almost 2-3 per cent.

While inflation remains a big concern, there are expectations that the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI, might hold on hiking interest rates in its next policy review given that GDP growth is taking a toll.

On a rising note
Index	Open	High	Low	Current Value	Previous Close	Change(Pts)	Change(%)
SENSEX	17,804.94	18,268.95	17,804.94	18,240.68	17,727.49	513.19	2.89
MIDCAP	6,525.80	6,677.40	6,525.80	6,671.70	6,524.21	147.49	2.26
SMLCAP	7,783.64	7,928.92	7,783.64	7,922.38	7,781.94	140.44	1.80
BSE-100	9,298.37	9,531.01	9,298.37	9,522.56	9,267.00	255.56	2.76
BSE-200	2,198.01	2,251.66	2,198.01	2,249.48	2,191.50	57.98	2.65
BSE-500	6,902.89	7,067.83	6,902.89	7,061.30	6,884.23	177.07	2.57
Sectoral
REALTY	1,935.12	2,007.08	1,927.53	2,000.71	1,928.27	72.44	3.76
METAL	14,152.93	14,587.02	14,150.91	14,573.34	14,094.37	478.97	3.40
IT	5,824.00	6,006.84	5,824.00	5,991.76	5,796.46	195.3	3.37
CG	12,992.13	13,390.93	12,992.13	13,358.19	12,929.11	429.08	3.32
BANKEX	12,032.26	12,410.84	12,032.26	12,393.34	12,002.81	390.53	3.25
TECk	3,537.57	3,634.49	3,537.57	3,629.96	3,521.12	108.84	3.09
AUTO	8,327.08	8,576.40	8,327.08	8,560.42	8,310.94	249.48	3.00
PSU	8,197.08	8,404.34	8,197.08	8,397.54	8,168.36	229.18	2.81
POWER	2,489.21	2,548.37	2,487.51	2,537.88	2,482.61	55.27	2.23
FMCG	3,816.84	3,895.27	3,816.84	3,883.65	3,816.51	67.14	1.76
HC	6,169.35	6,257.59	6,169.35	6,244.20	6,165.25	78.95	1.28
OIL&GAS	8,990.42	9,087.69	8,905.69	9,043.39	8,941.91	101.48	1.13
Source: BSE