Sensex 362 points 17378 and NSE Nifty closed at 5,195 up 105 points.

Bulls staged a smart comeback on the bourses today with the NSE Nifty closing above the 200 DMA (daily moving average) for the first time since February 29. Banks led the rally after the RBI left the repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged and hiked the CRR by 25 bps. Realty stocks too welcomed the RBI move. Finally, the BSE 30-share Sensex closed at 17, 378 up 362 points and NSE Nifty closed at 5, 195 up 105 points.

IT shares zoomed after the Government extended tax sops to software companies for a year till March 2010. Metal shares too joined the party despite the Government scrapping customs duty on steel and imposing export duty on steel products. Other prominent gainers included Consumer Durable and Oil & Gas.

After a cautious opening, bulls suddenly stepped up their buying spree post the RBI's announcement of the annual policy at noon. Stocks gained further momentum after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced the extension of tax breaks for IT companies and PSU oil refiners.

Satyam Computers surged by over 8% to Rs479 following reports stating that Mindtree Consulting and Satyam Computers bagged a three year contract from Arcelor Mittal. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs486 and a low of Rs439 and recorded volumes of over 24, 00, 000 shares on BSE.

TCS gained by over 3% to Rs910 following reports stating that the company bagged Rs4.5bn contract from Scottish Water, a UK based utility firm. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs933 and a low of Rs872 and recorded volumes of over 7, 00, 000 shares on BSE.
Tata Steel rose by 4% to Rs808 following reports stating that the company would join hands with MMTC for acquiring mining assets abroad through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs819 and a low of Rs775 and recorded volumes of over 17, 00, 000 shares on BSE.

GAIL gained by 0.5% to Rs439 following reports stating that the company would be a part of the consortium building the US$7.6bn Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline by 2015. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs447 and a low of Rs431 and recorded volumes of over 1, 50, 000 shares on BSE.

IOC surged by over 0.5% to Rs448. Reports said that the company will seek board approval for doubling of its borrowing limit to create a war chest of Rs800bn to fund a major acquisition in E&P sector. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs465 and a low of Rs439 and recorded volumes of over 1, 50, 000 shares on BSE.