The Sensex rebounded strongly to end near a two-month high of 26,878 by zooming over 245 points and the NSE Nifty rescaled the 8,200-mark after the U.S. Fed minutes hinted at the uncertainty over the pace of rate hike.
A higher U.S. interest rate means flight of capital from emerging markets in quest of better returns.
Sentiment took on shine after value-buying in blue-chips amid a mixed trend in global markets boosted by overnight gains in the U.S. The U.S. shares closed near record after the minutes of the December meeting signalled a less aggressive stance on policy tightening, traders said.
The Sensex stayed in the positive space throughout and closed at near two month high at 26,878.24, up 245.11 points, or 0.92 per cent. This is its highest closing since November 10 at 27,517.68. Intra-day, it shuttled between 26,917.21 and 26,738.42.
It had lost 10 points in the previous session.
NEW DELHI : BSE SENSEX/NSE NIFTY. PTI GRAPHICS . (PTI1_5_2017_000096B)
The 50-share NSE Nifty wrested control of the crucial 8,200 level and ended at 8,273.80, a gain of 83.30 points, or 1.02 per cent, after moving between 8,282.65 and 8,223.70.
Today’s close is the highest since 8,296.30 on November 11.
The rupee closed up against the dollar at 67.96, which fuelled the upmove.
“Market gained and the rupee strengthened as the widely awaited FOMC minutes hinted at the uncertainty over the pace of rate hike due to risk of appreciation in dollar,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Retail investors too went ahead with buying as cash crunch following demonetisation started to lose its bite, they added.
Buying activity was so strong that all the sectoral indices except IT and technology ended in the green, rising by up to 3 per cent.
Adani Ports had a good day in office, jumping the most by 4.88 per cent, along with Tata Steel 3.47 per cent, Tata Motors 3.18 per cent, ONGC 2.73 per cent, Power Grid 2.50 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.41 per cent and Maruti Suzuki 2.28 per cent.
However, TCS, HDFC Bank and Infosys ended in the red with a fall of up to 1.85 per cent.
Broader markets remained positive too, with BSE mid-cap rising 1.32 per cent and small-cap 0.98 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng firmed up 1.46 per cent and Shanghai composite gained 0.21 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.37 per cent.
Europe too was trading mixed, with London FTSE up 0.15 per cent, Paris down 0.20 per cent and Frankfurt lower 0.10 per cent.
The worryline is foreign funds that persisted with selling shares worth Rs 800.71 crore yesterday, showed provisional data.
