The markets closed the session on a strong note and near day's high on the back of huge buying support from metal, technology, telecom, pharma and auto stocks. News from Steel Secretary's desk and rupee depreciation against dollar have played the key role today. The Sensex has touched 17000 mark during the day. The Nifty closed above 5000. Market breadth remained positive in late trade. Midcap and small cap stocks also joined the party. But the PSU Index traded weak due to downtrend in government oil companies' shares on the news that oil companies will get 50% of revenue loss as bonds in FY08.

On the global front, Asian markets have recovered in late trade and closed in positive barring modest loss in Hang Seng and Straits Times. European markets were trading mixed at the time of writing market report.

The Sensex ended at 16,978.35, up 1.35% or 225.49 points after touching an intraday high/low of 17,014.94 and 16,626.35, respectively. The Nifty went up by 53.95 points or 1.09% to settle at 5011.75. It has hit high/low of 5026.10 and 4932.05.

Metal stocks were outperformers of the day, BSE Metal Index surged by 4.36% or 687.30 points to settle at 16,435.18 on the news from Steel secretary desk that secondary steel companies (like Uttam Galva, Bhushan Steel etc) will cut flat product price by Rs 4000 per tonne. Major steel companies will hold reduced prices for 3 months. Price cut is by major steel companies is Unconditional, they said. Secondary Producers requested government to rollback export duty. price cut is applicable only for domestic market. Major gainers were Hind Zinc (up 17%), Hindalco (+7%), Jindal Steel (+6%), Sterlite Ind (+4.7%), Sesa Goa (+4.4) and Tata Steel (+4%).

Technology stocks rallied as the Indian Rupee has depreciated by 1.2% to 41.63 per dollar during the day. BSE IT Index closed at 4,427.36, up 3.8% or 162 points led by TCS, i-flex Solutions, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, MphasiS, Patni Computer, Wipro and Satyam.

Pharma stocks also shot up higher, Healthcare Index went up 1.78% to close at 4,252.54 as buying seen in Dr Reddy's Labs, Orchid Chemical, Divis Labs, Lupin, Matrix Labs and Ranbaxy Labs.

Telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Tata Communication and Reliance Communications witnessed buying interest.

The BSE Auto Index finished at 4,718.89, up 1.05% as Maruti Suzuki, Bharat Forge, Cummins, Hero Honda and Tata Motors were on buying radar.

Power stocks like Reliance Infra, Siemens, CESC, Torrent Power, Suzlon Energy, Tata Power and Reliance Power have charged up, due to which Power Index went up 0.66% at 3,234.52.

Capital Goods Index closed at 13,146.06, up 0.65% due to buying in BEML, Siemens, Praj Industries, Bharat Elec and Thermax.

Realty stocks including Phoenix Mills, Mahindra Life, Peninsula Land, HDIL and DLF also gained. The BSE Realty Index was up 0.39% at 7,777.65. 

The BSE Midcap Index rose 0.47% at 6,989.81. Major midcap gainers like Titan Industries, Electrosteel, Orchid Chemical, Chambal Fert, Lakshmi Energy, ICI India, Deccan Aviation and Dredging Corp were up 5-8%.

Government owned companies especially oil companies' shares lost ground. The BSE PSU Index was up 0.95% at 7,640.54. ONGC, IOC, GAIL, Chennai Petro were major losers on the news that Oil companies will get 50% of revenue loss as bonds in FY08, said government. Total bond issue to Oil companies for FY08 is at Rs 35,300 crore.

Total markets turnover for the day stood at Rs 51837 crore including Rs 12718.07 crore from NSE cash segment, Rs 32919.78 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 6199.15 from BSE cash segment.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Shanghai Composite was up 1.78% or 63.41 points at 3,623.65. Jakarta Composite rose 22.35 points or 0.92% at 2,441.25. Taiwan Weighted gained 23 points or 0.26% at 9,012.53.

However, Hang Seng was down 1.54% or 392.52 points at 25,160.25. Nikkei 225 Average lost 2.23 points or 0.02% at 13,951.50. Straits Times fell 14.12 points or 0.44% at 3,189.30. Seoul Composite was down 9.33 points or 0.51% at 1,833.47.