Happy ending to the markets

The market advanced throughout the day, except the odd blip in early afternoon trade, as buying coupled with short-covering in the derivatives segment, continued.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 241.38 points, to settle at 12,947.32, while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 1.8%, to settle at 3,764.10.

There was renewed buying for shares from the banking space.ICICI Bank surged 5.35% to Rs 868, and was the top gainer.While state-run State Bank of India gained 3.31% to Rs 984.15. HDFC Bank rose 1.35% to Rs 967.Other gainers from the banking pack included Centurion Bank of Punjab (up 7.30% to Rs 36.90), Bank of Baroda (up 7.20% to Rs 214), Punjab National Bank (up 3.91% to Rs 452.20), UTI Bank (up 3.37% to Rs 478) and Bank of India (up 3.29% to Rs 156.85).

Reliance Energy advanced 3.12% to Rs 491, on reports that the company was pursuing tie-ups with US companies. The firm plans to get into the nuclear energy market. The Indo-US civil nuclear deal calls for massive investment, as India can add up to 20,000 - 40,000 Mw of nuclear generation capacity, which Reliance Energy does not want to miss out on. Apart from nuclear energy, the company has also chalked out aggressive growth plans for wind energy.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 1.59% to Rs 1342.
Cement major Gujarat Ambuja Cements was the top loser, down 4.20% to Rs 106.25.