Sensex surges 257 points to two-week high

The benchmark Sensex jumped 257 points on Friday to its highest level in almost two weeks buoyed by heavy buying in banking, PSU and capital goods shares on hopes that second quarter GDP growth will beat expectations.

After gaining 114.65 points in the previous session, the Sensex shot up by 257.02 points, or 1.25 per cent, to end at 20,791.93, after touching intra-day high of 20,819.77.

ITC, ICICI Bank and SBI helped lift the 30-share index.

BHEL and Sesa Sterlite were the biggest Sensex gainers while M&M, Wipro and Hero MotoCorp were laggards in the pack.

All 13 BSE sectoral indices ended in the green.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 84.25 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 6,176.10. Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed 159.26 points higher at 12,344.49.

“Growth is likely to nudge 4.6 per cent levels from 4.4 per cent a quarter ago, following improved manufacturing sector performance,” said HDFC Securities in a note.

Investors are also awaiting data on fiscal deficit for first 7 months on Friday. The rupee was last trading 15 paise lower at 62.55 levels versus the dollar.

FIIs have been net buyers of more than Rs 6,000 crore in this month, which has also boosted stock market sentiment and increased conviction in buying, said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

Sectorally, the BSE Banking index gained the most by rising 2.21 per cent, followed by PSU sector index (1.88 per cent), Capital goods index (1.79 per cent) and Metal index (1.76 per cent).

On a weekly basis, the Sensex ended 575 points higher, logging the first gain in four. However, the index ended November on a negative note as it lost 373 points.