Market rally fifth straight week, Sensex gains 424 points

Market rallied for the fifth straight week, over five-months highs, as the benchmark Sensex gaining 424.22 points to to close 28,892.97, while the broader Nifty ended above the psychological 8,900-level.

Stocks specific action drove the stock momentum during the holiday-truncated week as traders executed buying spree on sanguine reports of coporate shares buy-back, merger and acquisition news as well as Index heavy-weights Reliance Jio stealing the limelights turning the investors bullish.

Investors opting for long positions, and covering-up of short positions due to February month's derivatives expiry week and globally, odds over US Federal Reserve hiking interest rates in its March policy meet also spurred the stock momentum.

IT counters rallied after bellwether TCS announced a whopping Rs 16,000-crore share buyback programme in its board- meeting on February 20.

Telecom shares zoomed following reports of Vodafone India and Aditya Birla Group firm Idea Cellular are likely to finalise their merger within a month, creating India's largest telecom firm. While, Bharti Airtel surged on news of its acquisition of Telenor India for an undisclosed sum. I

The market did see selling pressure in telecom space on ruthless competition after RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani unveiled Reliance Jio's new voice and data offers, including 20 per cent more data than any rival from April 1, however speculator got together the act after the announcement that the Jio will begin charging for data services from April.

Metal stocks jumped after the government extended anti-dumping duty on import of certain steel products from China for five years.

The Markets was closed on Friday, on account of 'Mahashivratri'.

The Sensex resumed higher at 28,481.91 and zoomed to 29,065.31 and a low of 28,419.27 before closing at 28,892.97, showing gain of 424.22 points or 1.49 per cent.

It gained 1,858.47 points four weeks.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also surged by 117.80 points or 1.34 per cent to 8,939.50 after moving in a range of 8,982.15 and 8,809.80.

Barring Power sector, buying was led by Oil&Gas, Metals, Consumer Durables, IPOs, Banking, Realty, IT, Teck, PSUs, Auto, Capital Goods, HealthCare and FMCG.

Substantial gains were also seen in secondline shares of midcap and smallcap companies shares.