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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 30, 2018, 03:37 AM IST
Snapping two days of decline, stock market benchmark Sensex today zoomed 388 points and regained the 20,000 level on robust corporate earnings and sustained inflows by foreign funds.
Analysts said the Sensex was best performer among the key indices today and the rebound was mainly on robust second quarter (July-Septeber) results being posted by India Inc.
Besides, comparatively lower food inflation numbers released earlier in the day and a renewed buying in the index heavyweights, prompted the strong rally that was led by blue-chips like RIL, ITC, SBI and Bharti Airtel.
In the past two sessions, the index had fallen by nearly 300 points as investors indulged in profit booking to raise funds for Coal India's mega IPO, which is expected to mop up Rs15,000 crore. Besides, China's raising its key interest rates earlier this week had rattled markets worldwide.
After trading below the psychological 20,000 mark for the past two sessions, the 30-share barometer of the Bombay Stock Exchange today closed at 20,260.58, up 388.43 points, or 1.95%.
The wide-based 50-share Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange too gained 2% to finish at 6,101.50.
"Investors are bullish on the India growth story. So far second quarter numbers have been quite impressive," Networth Stock Broking head -- institutional business Prakash Diwan said, adding that "profit booking in coming sessions cannot be ruled out at this level."
Besides, analysts said that decline in food inflation also boosted sentiment. It declined about a percentage point to 15.53% for the week ended October 9, from 16.37% in the previous week.
Reliance Industries, that holds the maximum weight in the Sensex, climbed nearly 3% to close at Rs1,079.25.
IT major TCS rose 2% on hopes of good Q2 numbers, that will be declared after the trading hours today. Other IT firms too saw buying interest with Infosys rising 0.4% and Wipro 1.46%.
Buying interest was witnessed across the board. FMCG, oil & gas, banking, metal and realty were the top gainers.
Except state-run NTPC, which fell 0.12%, all the rest 29 stocks in the Sensex pack ended with gains.
FMCG major ITC rose 3.65% and HUL by nearly 4%. Marketmen said hopes of growth in revenue in FMCG sector on rise in sale for the festival season of Diwali helped boost the sentiment.
Metals sector was another space that attracted heavy buying and with a jump of 5.05%, Hindalco was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack. Tata Steel rose 2%, Jindal Steel 1.64% and Sterlite 1.41%.
Bharti Airtel surged 5.03% and its telecom market rival RCom by 2.53%.
In the banking space, SBI rose 3.29%, ICICI Bank by 1.49%, HDFC Bank by 1.18% and HDFC by 0.51%.
Besides, DLF rose 2%, Cipla 2.5% and Tata Power by nearly 3%.
Foreign institutional investors, the main market drivers who have injected a record $23.95 billion so far this year, continued their buying spree.
Meanwhile, Asian markets ended narrowly mixed. Key indices from Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan ended with small gains while from China, Japan and Singapore closed with losses.
However, European stocks exhibited a firm trend in their afternoon deals. The CAC was up by 0.72%, the DAX by 0.37%, the FTSE by 0.52%.
