The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index, Sensex, on Thursday jumped over 180 points on the IMF projection that the Rs. 61-lakh crore economy will grow by 9.5 per cent in 2010 (calendar year). The BSE 30-share bellwether ended the session at 17651.73, up by 180.70 points or 1.03 per cent.
The International Monetary Fund raised the growth forecast for the Indian economy on robust corporate earnings, among other things.
The National Stock Exchange's wide-based Nifty-50 closed 1.06 per cent higher at 5296.85. Taking cues from an overnight rally in the U.S. market, the Sensex opened on a strong note and never looked back. It touched a high of 17728.37. Analysts said that investment confidence on the BSE was high after the IMF raised India's growth forecast for 2010 to 9.5 per cent, stating that favourable financing conditions and robust corporate performance would accelerate economic expansion. The lender has upped the growth projection from 8.8 per cent estimated in April.
“The market sentiment was boosted after the IMF raised hopes of a better-than-expected global economic outlook,” Ashika Stock Brokers research head Paras Bothra said. “Reports that the U.S. retail sales grew at its fastest pace in four years helped the Asian space move up,” he added. Besides this, the Washington-based body said that the world economy would grow faster than expected this year, pushing global bourses up.
Hectic buying was seen across the front and all sectoral indices on the BSE ended in the green with gains up to 2 per cent. Consumer durables, realty, IT, metal and banking stocks were the major gainers. IT major Infosys, which will kick-off the first quarter earning next week, jumped 1.61 per cent to Rs. 2,825.75. While TCS rose by 1.70 per cent to Rs. 776.60, Wipro edged up by 0.63 per cent to Rs. 396.45.
Metal stocks bounced back, with Sterlite Industries surging by 3.55 per cent to Rs. 165, the highest in the BSE-30. Tata Steel rose by 1.96 per cent to Rs. 484.15 and Hindalco by 2.08 per cent to Rs. 144.90. Easing food inflation also pushed market confidence, brokers said.
Rupee rebounds
The rupee on Thursday rebounded by 17 paise against the dollar to end the five-day losing streak in line with the recovery in stock markets. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened higher at 46.75/76 a dollar against Wednesday's close of 47.03/04 and moved in the range of 46.75 and 46.94 before settling at 46.86/87. — PTI
