Sensex ends two-day losing streak, up 240 pts

Snapping its two-day losing string, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today surged over 240 points on the back of a good show by European markets and realty and metal stocks.

After a subdued opening, the Sensex fell into the red, led by banking stocks. However, strong European markets and buying in realty and metal stocks helped the market touch a new intra-day high. The Sensex ended with a 244.54-point gain (1.4 per cent) at 17,227.68. The NSE Nifty added 81.25 (1.6 per cent) to 5,147.95.

The boost in late-trades came as the government said it would seek the approval of Parliament to spend an additional Rs 25,725 crore in the next four months. BSE mid- and small-cap indices closed 1.3 per cent up.

“We are expecting markets to rise to 5,200 this week,” said Siddharth Bhamre, head, investment advisory and derivatives, Angel Broking.

All sectoral indices ended in the green with realty stealing the show. The realty index jumped 3.27 per cent to 3,982.99, followed by consumer durables (2.29 per cent), metals (2.15 per cent) and technology (1.84 per cent).

Bharti Airtel surged 4 per cent to Rs 329.20. DLF, Tata Motors and Hindalco rose over 2 per cent.

Market heavyweight Reliance Industries added 2.3 per cent on reports about its plans for acquisition of LyondellBasell. Tata Steel advanced 2.2 per cent as its November sales soared 35 per cent.

3i Infotech added 4.4 per cent on ICICI Bank’s plan to offload 27 per cent stake in the firm. NDTV jumped 3.35 per cent on an agreement with Turner Asia Pacific Ventures. The company would sell most of its indirect stake in NDTV Imagine to Turner for $117 million.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares worth Rs 843.18 crore while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 503.98 crore.

“In spite of talk about the dollar depreciating, no serious outflow of money has been noticed. Thus, the apprehension about the falling dollar is uncalled for”, added Bhamre.