It was a smart pullback rally for the markets on the back of buying in realty, banking, technology, power, FMCG and metal stocks. Markets finished the day on a positive note though there was selling in some oil, capital goods and auto stocks in late trade. The volumes remained low through the day. Positive cues from Wall Street and Asian markets also played a key role. Midcap and small cap stocks also remained in the limelight.

The Sensex has crossed 15500 mark again and hit an intraday high of 15,553.37. It has closed at 15,395.82, up 206.20 points or 1.36% but lost 157 points from day's high. The Nifty has hit 4600 mark and touched a high of 4617.70. It was up 55.4 points or 1.23% to settle at 4572.50 but lost 45 points from day's high.

Most beaten down sector like Realty has shown smart recovery and outperformed other indices. Index jumped by 3.54% or 200.64 points to close at 5,870.87 due to buying in Indiabulls Real, Unitech, Puravankara Proj, HDIL and DLF.

Market breadth was positive; about 1905 shares have advanced while 1039 shares declined. Nearly 176 shares remained unchanged.

Amongst frontliners, Unitech was up 5.89%, ICICI Bank 4.43%, Reliance Infra 3.97%, Bharti Airtel 3.15%, NTPC 3.07%,  PNB 4.27% and Tata Power 3.99% while Hindalco was down -2.31%, BHEL -2.15%, Reliance Communication -1.52%, SBI -0.61%, Hero Honda -2.49% and Dr Reddy's Labs -1.73%. 

Banking stocks like Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Union Bank, Kotak Mahindra and HDFC Bank have helped the Bankex to shot up by 2.83% or 199.69 points to settle at 7,255.63.

BSE IT Index was up 1.78% at 4,413.35 as buying seen in Patni Computer, Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro, Satyam and TCS.

Power stocks have charged up fully, index flared up by 1.54% at 2,668.20 due to buying support from Power Grid Corp, Reliance Infra, Tata Power, NTPC and Torrent Power.

FMCG Index closed at 2,273.39, up 1.42% on the back of gains in Colgate, Godrej Consumer, HUL, ITC and GSK Consumer.

Metal stocks like Jindal Saw, JSW Steel, Sterlite Ind, Jindal Stainless, SAIL and Tata Steel ended in green. Index jumped 1.24% at 15,374.77.

Oil & Gas Index rose 1% to settle at 10,016.06 as buying seen in GAIL, BPCL, HPCL, Reliance Industries, IOC and ONGC. However, Cairn India has lost ground due to fall in crude.

Capital Goods stocks like Crompton Greaves, Siemens, Thermax, ABB, Bharat Elec and L&T have gained. Index was up 0.7% at 12,103.20. However, selling has seen in Kalpataru Power, Gammon India, BHEL and Suzlon Energy.

Healthcare Index moved up by 0.63% at 4,522.55 due to buying in Dishman Pharma, Opto Circuits, Lupin, Cipla and Sun Pharma. However, selling seen in Wyeth, Panacea Biotech, Dr Reddy's Labs, Aventis Pharma and Piramal Health.

Auto Index remained flat through the day and closed marginally down by 0.14% at 4,123.88. The reason was that government has hiked export duty on Multi-Utility Vehicle and SUVs of over 1500 cc by Rs 15,000/unit. Buying seen in Escorts, Amtek Auto, MRF, Ashok Leyland and Hind Motors while selling in Hero Honda, Bharat Forge, Maruti Suzuki, Apollo Tyres and M&M.

Midcap and Small Cap indices shot up 1.15% each. Amongst midcap stocks, Atlas Copco, Welspun Guj, Max India, Elecon Engg, National Fert, Engineers Ind, Jindal Saw, Birla Corp, Plethico Pharma, PSL and Shiv Vani Oil were up over 6%. In the small cap segment, Savita Chemical, Vaibhav Gems, Guj Amb Exports, Ashiana Housing, Royal Orchid, BAG Films, Venus Remedies and Lloyds Metals  have jumped over 8%.

Total turnover witnessed by the markets stood at Rs 55401.19 crore, which was very low due to less participation in cash markets. Turnover includes Rs 10714.45 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 40166.83 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 4519.91 crore from BSE Cash segment.

Asian markets were trading strong; Nikkei was up 2.6%, Staits Times 2%, Hang Seng 2.75%, Kospi 1% and Shanghai up 1%.