Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 156 points while the Nifty closed above the 17,300 level on Thursday after gains in metal, IT and capital goods shares amid foreign capital inflows. Rising for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 156.63 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 58,222.10.
The index opened higher and later jumped 513.29 points or 0.88 per cent to a day's high of 58,578.76 on gains in metal, FMCG, IT and oil stocks. However, profit booking in select banking and teck stocks in the closing session trimmed the gains. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 57.50 points or 0.33 per cent to end at 17,331.80 as 27 of its shares ended in the green.
Among Sensex shares, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies, Infosys and Axis Bank were among the winners. However, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank, HDFC and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards. Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "The Indian market is maintaining its resilience despite mixed cues from global equities and surging oil prices. Both domestic and foreign investors are supporting the rally."
The market was also bolstered by expectations on Q2 results session, with improvement in sectors like metal, IT, and realty, Nair added. "Weakness in European indices and SGX Nifty slipping into the red prompted investors to cut their bullish bets. But key domestic benchmarks still ended in the green thanks to traders betting big on IT, metal and realty stocks.
"However, inflationary concerns worldwide and central banks hiking interest rates persistently has spooked markets and kept investors on tenterhooks on worries of a global slowdown," Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said. In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.30 per cent and midcap index climbed 1.13 per cent. Among the BSE sectoral indices, metal jumped 3.89 per cent, capital goods (2.34 per cent), realty (2.15 per cent), industrials (1.96 per cent), commodities (1.67 per cent) and power (1.61 per cent).
FMCG and telecommunication were the laggards. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo ended higher, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading in the negative territory in mid-session deals. The US markets ended marginally lower on Wednesday.
The domestic equity markets were closed on Wednesday for the Dussehra festival. In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE benchmark had jumped 1,276.66 points or 2.25 per cent to settle at 58,065.47. The Nifty rallied 386.95 points or 2.29 per cent to end at 17,274.30. Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 0.14 per cent to 93.50 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 1,344.63 crore on Tuesday, according to data available with BSE. (PTI)
