Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved between 3,054.30 and 2,966.40 points, before ending with a gain of 42.80 points at 3,020.95.

The current rally was backed by the capital goods, realty, healthcare, auto and metal segments as hesitant investors did selective buying. March saw the benchmark index securing its best monthly gain in the last eleven months. Such significant monthly gains were recorded in April last year.

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.86%

AAP 41.43%

INC 25.71%

Submit

View All In Poll

While foreign investors picked fundamentally strong stocks in realty, metals and heavy machinery companies, the prevailing political uncertainty and economic slowdown at home saw market players booking profits on every rise.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 14 per cent in March as governments from the US and Japan broadened measures to ease the financial crisis.

Front-runners like Tata Steel, ACC, Reliance Industries, Larsen and Toubro, Tata Motors, DLF Ltd, Jaiprakash Associate, Ranbaxy Lab and Infosys Technologies recorded handsome gains on fresh buying.

Stocks of companies linked to heavy machinery and construction were the best performers, lifting the capital goods index higher by 3.29 per cent to 6,466.03. The realty sector index rose by 2.93 at 1,560.83.

Trading sentiment in the two sectors picked up on reports of encouraging sales of new homes in the US. The healthcare index gained 2.97 per cent to 2,830.11 after sector participant Ranbaxy Lab soared on reports that it would start selling Daiichi s anti-hypertensive drug in India.

The auto sector index rose by 2.44 per cent to 3,061.67 following reports that the government might extend depreciation benefits on vehicles by three months until June.

The metal index rose by 2.43 per cent to 5,795.07, the teck index by 2.32 per cent to 1,846.83, the IT index by 2.30 per cent to 2,285.68, the FMCG index by 1.91 per cent to 2,036.24, the banking index by 1.73 per cent to 4,490.97 and the power index by 1.44 per cent to 1,847.10.

With buying activity rising, the midcap index rose by 2.27 per cent to 2,956.23 and the smallcap index by 1.46 per cent to 3,246.63.