A bullish New Year run for Indian stocks, Sensex 52-week high

Mumbai : Indian stock markets rang in the New Year on a bullish note, with a benchmark index surging 154 points to touch a 52-week high Tuesday as the US lawmakers approved a budget deal to avert fiscal crisis.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the positive at 19,513.45 points, ended the day at 19,580.81 points, up 0.79 percent or 154.10 points from its previous day close at 19,426.71 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 19,623.76 points and low of 19,508.93 points in the intra-day. The benchmark Sensex touched a 52-week high on the first day of 2013 after surging by over 25 percent in the previous year.

The Indian stock markets rallied taking positive cues from the global bourses after the US Senate approved of a budget deal under which taxes would remain steady for the middle class to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also surged to the highest level in a year. The Nifty rose 0.77 percent or 45.75 points to 5,950.85 points.

There was good buying support in realty, metal, banking and capital goods stocks. Realty index of the BSE surged 2.74 percent. The BSE metal index rose 2.13 percent, banking index gained 1.47 percent and capital goods index closed 1.15 percent higher.

Buying support was across the board as all the sectoral indices of the BSE closed in the positive territory. The BSE midcap index rose 1.19 percent and the smallcap index advanced 0.99 percent.

Jindal Steel surged 3.26 percent at Rs.462.10. Hindalco Inds, up 2.72 percent at Rs.134.15; Tata Steel, up 2.33 percent at Rs.438.30; ICICI Bank, up 1.92 percent at Rs.1,159.15; and BHEL, up 1.90 percent at Rs.232.75 were among the major Sensex gainers.

Only three of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the negative. NTPC, down 0.70 percent at Rs.155.35; Infosys, down 0.44 percent at Rs.2,308.30; and Hero MotoCorp, down 0.01 percent at Rs.1,898.15 were the Sensex losers.

The foreign institutional investors had bought shares worth Rs.826.34 crore Monday as per the provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

Foreign investors have pumped in over $24.2 billion (Rs.132,405.50 crore) this year, marking the biggest inflows since a record $29.36 billion in 2010, on the back of cheaper valuations and government measures to further open up the retail and aviation sector.