NAVs end higher as markets gain

Equity diversified NAVs ended last day of the year 2009 on a positive note and their advance:decline ratio stood at 209:13. The markets closed the session at a new 19-month high. The Nifty shut shop above the psychological 5,200 mark for the first time since May 02, 2008.

Oil & gas, power, capital goods, and select auto, banking & technology stocks helped the indices to remain on the higher side. However, selling in the last couple of hours in pharma & realty stocks along with Reliance Communications, JSPL, ICICI Bank, PNB, HUL, Idea & Reliance Infrastructure limited the gains to some extent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,464.81, up 120.99 points or 0.7% and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 0.61% or 31.60 points, to settle at 5,201.05, after seeing an intraday high of 17,530.94 and 5,221.85, respectively.