Markets light up ahead of Diwali

Nifty hits 8,000 intra-day; Sensex rises more than 200 points

The benchmark indices gained for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, supported by positive global markets. The gains were led by automobile stocks, which saw buying on hopes of robust monthly sales during the Diwali season.

The BSE Sensex rose 0.8 per cent or 211 points, to close at 26,787. The National Stock Exchange’s benchmark 50-stock Nifty index rose 68 points or 0.9 per cent and ended at 7,995 after crossing the psychological mark of 8,000 during mid-day trade.

“There is a buoyancy in the market ahead of Diwali. Besides, the government has announced pro-reform decisions over the weekend,” said Dhananjay Sinha, co-head (institutional research), Emkay Global Financial Services.

The markets will open for 75 minutes on Thursday on account of a special muhurat trading session to mark the start of Samvat 2071, the new Hindu calendar year. On Friday, the markets will be closed for Diwali.

After the elections in Maharasthra and Haryana, The Centre announced deregulation of diesel prices and a rise in gas prices. Then followed the announcement of an auction for cancelled private coal blocks and promises to open the coal sector to private entities. Analysts said all these were taken positively by the market.

Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and Maruti were the top three gainers on the Sensex, up four, 3.5 and 3.4 per cent, respectively. The BSE automobile index gained about three per cent on Wednesday and was the best performer among sectors, followed by capital goods, up two per cent.

Sentiment around automobile stocks rose after Hero MotoCorp announced sales of close to 150,000 units on Tuesday, the occasion of Dhanteras, which traditionally sees higher sales of jewellery, vehicles and other retail products. This raised hopes of higher sales in the October month.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of equities worth Rs 7.5 crore. Domestic institutional investors were also net buyers of equities, worth Rs 375 crore.

Analysts said the sentiment surrounding Indian equities would remain positive even if the earnings numbers for the September quarter did disappoint.

“So far, the results that we have seen have been within expectations and will continue to have an impact on stocks. The broader agenda will be set by the government’s pro-reform decisions,” said Rikesh Parikh, vice-president (equities), Motilal Oswal Securities. “Further global markets have stabilised over the past few days and it is a matter of time before the Indian markets do as well.”