Stocks ended 2014 on a cheerful note with the Sensex on Wednesday rising nearly 96 points to 27,499.42 and the Nifty climbing over 34 points to 8,282.70, helping the Indian markets notch up their best annual gain in five years. The new government's reform initiatives, robust foreign fund flows and a wave of optimism over growth prospects pushed up share values in 2014, making investors richer by a whopping Rs 28 lakh crore.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex on Wednesday rallied for the fourth sraight session to end at almost one-week highs. The market saw mostly across-the-board buying as 11 out of 12 sectoral indices closed with gains. Power, realty, consumer durables, pharma and oil & gas shares good activity. However, the BSE Auto index closed in the red on selling in some stocks as excise duty incentives for the sector would not be extended beyond December 31.
The 30-share Sensex resumed on Wednesday a tad lower but recovered immediately. It remained in positive terrain throughout the session to settle at 27,499.42, a rise of 95.88 points or 0.35 per cent. In straight four sessions, it has spurted by 290.81 points or 1.07 per cent. For the year as a whole, the Sensex registered 6,328.74 points or 29.89 per cent -- its best gain since 2009. "Our market remains the hot investment option. And this growth is expected to continue as cyclical, rate-sensitive and investment-oriented stocks find flavour with investors," said Kamlesh Rao, CEO, Kotak Securities.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 277.92 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data with stock exchanges.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "Local equity market traded positive most of the day with the help of bluechips. We have seen the almost 31 percent rally in Nifty this year, posting its best gain since 2009 in a year marked by a series of record highs."
Asian markets, in thin trade following Christmas holidays, closed better. Key indices from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan closed up while the index from Singapore ended almost stable. Japan and South Korea markets were closed on Wednesday. European markets were also trading better in their late morning deals. The CAC was up by 0.46 per cent and the FTSE by 0.22 per cent. The German market was closed on Wednesday. Overall, 22 counters out of 30-share sensex pack settled in the green. Major gainers include BHEL 2.65 per cent, Dr Reddy's lab 2.02 per cent, NTPC 1.69 per cent, RIL 1.20 per cent, Hindalco 0.93 per cent, Bharti Airtel 0.92 per cent and TCS 0.92 per cent.
Among laggards, M&M declined by 1.85 per cent, Bajaj Auto 0.66 per cent and Maruti Suzuki 0.63 per cent. Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Power firmed up by 1.02 per cent, Realty 1.01 per cent, Consumer Durables 0.93 per cent, Healthcare 0.72 per cent and Oil&Gas 0.70 per cent while Auto index eased by 0.28 per cent. Reflecting rally in second-line stocks, the total market breadth remained positive as 1,692 stocks concluded with gains while 1,177 that ended with losses and 123 remained stable.
The total turnover was better at almost at Rs 2,459 crore from Rs 2,243.21 crore on Tuesday.
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