The Sensex and the Nifty rose to their highest level in nearly two weeks on Thursday as technology stocks such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) gained on expectations of improving sector earnings this year, especially in the United States.
The 30-share gauge resumed slightly weak and remained listless till late afternoon trade, moving in just over 60 points. However, buying after 1330 hrs lifted it to settle at 19,413.54, a rise of 160.93 points, or 0.84 per cent. In straight three sessions, the index has risen by 535.58 points.
The 50-stock Nifty of the NSE improved further by 44.70 points, or 0.77 per cent to close at 5,863.30.
Persistent buying by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) also kept the market tempo upbeat. FIIs pumped in Rs524.05 crore yesterday as per the Sebi data.
“The Indian equity market ended with gains for third straight trading session on Thursday led by capital goods, telecom, FMCG and the banking stocks.
“The realty stocks further surged higher on expectations that the RBI will cut interest rates in its monetary policy review meeting this month. The IT stocks also extended gains led by Infosys, Wipro, TCS & HCl Tech which hit 52-week highs” said Amar Ambani, head of research India Infoline ltd.
Brokers said besides momentum in interest-rate sensitive, stocks of software companies surged on hopes of a recovery in the US growth
and a better European trend before central bank policy meetings in the region.
Infosys surged 1.29 per cent to Rs 3,004.75, its highest level after March, 2011 and Tata Consultancy Services, the largest software exporter closed at a new high by adding 2.10 per cent to end Rs1,590.45.
Engineering major l&T shot up by 2.08 per cent to Rs1,463.45, continuing
its rise after ClSA Asia-Pacific Markets upgraded rating on the counter today. Goldman Sachs had upgraded the stock on Monday.
In 30-BSE index components, 10 sectoral indices closed with gains between 0.13 per cent and 1.68 per cent with realty, IT, capital goods, teck and banking segments taking the Besides TCS, Infosys, l&T, rise in ITC, HDFC Bank, ICICIBank, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki and Wipro mainly aided the Sensex surge.
Asian stocks closed narrowly mixed ahead of the key central-bank decisions and economic data.
Key indices from Japan, Singapore and Taiwan closed better while from China, Hong Kong and South Korea finished down.
European markets were quoting higher in their early trade ahead of monthly policy meetings of the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BOE) later in the day.
The CAC was trading up by 0.61 per cent, the DAX by 0.21 per cent and the FTSE by 0.23 per cent.
Back home, 20 scrips out of 30-share Sensex pack ended in green while 10 others finished in red.
Major gainers from the Sensex pack were Hero Motocorp (4.05 pct), TCS (2.10 pct), larsen (2.08 pct), Maruti (2.07 pct), Wipro (1.82 pct), HDFC Bank (1.70 pct), Sterlite Ind (1.62 pct), Sun Pharma (1.62 pct), ITC (1.46 pct), Infosys (1.29 pct), BHEl (1.28 pct), Cipla (1.10 pct), Icici Bank (1.08 pct), Bajaj Auto (1.04 pct) and HDFC (0.97 pct).
Rupee up 16 p at 1-wk high of 54.56
Rising for the second day, the rupee on Thursday appreciated by 16 paise to close at one-week high of 54.56 against the US dollar on hopes of robust capital inflows in view of a series of PSU share sales starting with RCF.
Continued dollar selling by exporters and some banks as also weak dollar overseas ahead of European Central Bank's monthly policy meet late today boosted the rupee, foreign exchange dealers said.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit commenced lower at 54.87 a dollar from previous close of 54.72 and immediately touched a low of 54.91 on early hesistency in local stocks.
However, rupee later turned positive on late rally in local stock markets on the back of firm European opening and dollar selling by exporters and some banks to a high of 54.50 before settling at 54.56, a rise of 16 paise or 0.29 per cent.
Yesterday, it had risen by 20 paise or 0.36 per cent.
“The rupee was seen appreciating against the US dollar. The gains were supported by the slight recovery in the Euro. The positive closing in the Indian stock markets also lent support to the rupee. Hopes of dollar inflows in the disinvestment of RCF scheduled tomorrow too supported the rupee,” said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, India Forex Advisors.
Gold up by Rs40, silver by Rs170
Snapping a three-day losing streak, gold prices on Thursday recovered by Rs 40 to Rs30,050 per 10 grams here on buying by stockists and retailers at existing lower levels amid a firm global trend.
Silver also rebounded by Rs170 to Rs55,320 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.
Traders said emergence of buying by stockists and retailers at existing lower levels driven by a firming global trend mainly led an recovery move in precious metals.
In New York, gold rose by $9.10 to $ 1,584.50 an ounce and silver by 1.18 per cent to $ 29.04 an ounce.