SENSEX

Sensex ended higher for second straight day Tuesday on the back of strong buying momentum in banking and realty stocks. Bouts of short covering and positive European market helped the up move. Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 15,730.20, up 334.38 points or 2.17 per cent. The index touched a high of 15,732.75 and low of 15,357.98. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 4662.55 up 90.05 points or 1.97 per cent. The index touched a high of 4664.05 and low of 4561.75. BSE Midcap Index ended 1.80 per cent higher at 6,413.01 and BSE Smallcap Index closed 1.58 per cent up at 7789.95. Biggest Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki (up 6.46%), HDFC (6.41%), ONGC (5.79%), HDFC Bank (5.09%), State Bank of India (4.57%) and Larsen & Toubro (4.4%). Satyam Computer (down 0.9%), Reliance Communications (0.77%), Bharti Airtel (0.67%), Grasim Industries (0.08%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (0.02%) were the losers. Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1801 advances and 884 declines. In Europe, FTSE 100 was up 1.57%, DAX 30 gained 1.32 per cent and CAC 40 moved 0.89 per cent higher