Sensex recovers 61 points to break 7-day fail

Breaking a seven-day losing pattern, the Sensex on Friday reclaimed the key 26,000-mark by recovering 61 points, helped by gains in pharma, auto and capital goods.

For the week, the Sensex lost 448.86 points, or 1.69%, while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 153.70 points, or 1.88%. This is their biggest weekly in five, which is since the week ended November 18. Domestic investors backed up and covering-up of short positions gave equities a push too. But a weak trend in Asia and a muted opening in Europe cast its shadow. The rupee appreciated 21 paise intra-day against the dollar, to 67.78, which had a positive influence too, brokers said.

After a subdued opening, the Sensex dropped as foreign funds liquidated bets ahead of Christmas. but emergence of value-buying later meant it wiped off early losses before settling higher by 61.10 points, or 0.24%, at 26,040.70. The 50-share NSE Nifty ended up 6.65 points, or 0.08%, at 7,985.75 points. Intra-day, it shuttled between 7,942.05 and 8,022.60. For the major part of the session, both Sensex and the Nifty moved in a tight range in tandem with emerging markets, which remained subdued on sustained foreign fund outflows.

The 30-scrip gauge had lost 718.22 points in the previous seven sessions on sustained foreign fund outflows and fears of a likely hit to corporate earnings due to currency crunch and lack of any major trigger. Cipla surged 4.03%, logging the best gains among 30 Sensex constituents. It was followed by Sun Pharma with a rise of 2.40%. Other gainers which supported the BSE Sensex include Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, GAIL, L&T, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, NTPC, HDFC Ltd, NTPC, Infosys and RIL. On the other hand, stocks led by Axis Bank, ONGC, ITC Ltd, Tata Motors, M&M, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, TCS, Adani Ports, Wipro, SBI and Dr Reddy's finished in the negative terrain. A weak trend at other Asian markets and a mixed opening in European markets also influenced sentiment here.

While Japanese financial markets were closed today for a public holiday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.28% and Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.94%. Among European markets, Frankfurt was up 0.12%, while Paris rose 0.02% in their morning trade but London's FTSE shed 0.03%. Sectorwise, the BSE capital goods index gained the most by rising 0.87%, followed by consumer durables (up 0.78%), auto (0.28%) and oil and gas (up 0.26%) while realty, healthcare, FMCG and IT ended lower by up to 1.06. In contrast, the broader markets remained under pressure, with the mid-cap index falling by 0.40% and small-cap index 0.04%. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 614.40 crore yesterday, according to provision data.