Led by Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries and Infosys, the BSE benchmark Sensex snapped a three-day losing streak to close over 55 points higher today amid a decline in food inflation.
The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange barometer, which lost 445 points in the previous three trading sessions, rose by 55.20 points to 18,141.40.
Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index rose by 7.50 points to 5,428.10 after falling to an intra-day low of 5,411.25.
A decline in food inflation to 7.47 per cent for the week ended May 7 and a firming global trend further fuelled the uptrend. Asian stocks closed higher and European stock markets opened on a strong note on the back of overnight gains in the US market.
The recovery move was backed by a rise in the fourth quarter earnings of engineering major Larsen and Toubro, as well as a rebound in stocks of the most-weighted firm in the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, as some investors judged its recent losses as excessive.
Reliance Industries surged by 1.45 per cent to Rs. 914.90 today, recovering from a three-month low yesterday. The second-most weighted firm in the Sensex pack, Infosys Technologies, rose by 0.20 per cent to Rs. 2,846.35.
The two companies account for nearly 23 per cent of the benchmark index’s total weight.
Larsen and Toubro, the largest engineering company and an index kitty stock, rose by 5.92 per cent to Rs 1,594.90 after reporting a record profit and securing a contract worth Rs. 1,450 crore from Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.
The capital goods sector index gained the most, rising by 2.82 per cent to 12,897.31, followed by the oil and gas index, which rose by 1.16 per cent to 9,292.25.
The information technologies sector index rose by 0.34 per cent to 6,037.40, in line with a better trend in the U.S. stock markets. Over 50 per cent of the country’s software export business comes from the US and European markets.
However, selling pressure in realty, metal, power, healthcare and banking stocks capped the gains.
