Strong foreign institutional investment (FII) inflows amid firm global trends and easing oil prices pushed up the Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index, Sensex, for the seventh day in a row to over 19290 on Wednesday, up 169 points. FIIs have pumped in Rs.4,343.34 crore (close to $1 billion) in the last six trading sessions to March 29.
Interest rate sensitive counters from consumer durables, realty, banking and auto segments attracted good buying on easing global crude oil prices, after they recently touched two-and-a-half year highs.
The fall in oil prices has eased concerns of inflation and a sharp hike in interest rates, marketmen said.
Banking counters remained in the limelight resulting in the sectoral bankex notching up sharp gains of about 10 per cent in the last seven trading sessions.
Second-line stocks outperformed Sensex on renewed participation of retail investors after a gap of several days.
The BSE 30-share bellwether index opened strong on firm Asian cues and gradually improved further to settle at 19290.18, highest closing after January 12, a rise of 169.38 points.
Similarly, the NSE 50-share Nifty rose by 51.30 points to close at more than two-and-a-half month high of 5787.65. It touched a high of 5803.15.
“Market has been behaving exceedingly well in the last seven sessions. Today's surge is primarily due to heavy buying in banking counters. However, the market also witnessed some profit booking in view of March settlement on Thursday of derivative contracts,” said Rajesh Jain, Religare Securities Executive Vice-President and Head of Retail Research.
On the global front, barring China, Asian markets closed in the green, up between 0.58 per cent and 2.64 per cent.
European stocks too were trading higher in afternoon deals on rise on Wall Street on Tuesday.
Rupee gains further
The rupee appreciated by four paise against the dollar on Wednesday and closed at 44.74/75 on enlarged portfolio investments due to bullish equities.
The rupee opened slightly better at 44.76/77 against Tuesday's close of 44.78/79. It later was trapped in a tight range between 44.7950 and 44.72 before concluding at 44.74/75.
