Sensex nears 2-month high, Nifty tops 8,200

The BSE Sensex rebounded strongly to end near a two-month high of 26,878 by zooming over 245 points and the National Stock Exchange (NSE)’s Nifty reclaimed the 8,200-mark after the US Fed minutes hinted at the uncertainty over the pace of rate hike.

A higher US interest rate means flight of capital from emerging markets in quest of better returns.

The sentiment took on a shine after value-buying in blue-chips amid a mixed trend in global markets boosted by overnight gains in the US. The US 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 a near two-month high at 26,878.24 points, up 245.11 points, or 0.92%. 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.

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%, after moving between 8,282.65 and 8,223.70.

Thursday’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 the 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 three%.

Adani Ports had a good day in office, jumping the most at 4.88%, along with Tata Steel (3.47%), Tata Motors (3.18%), ONGC (2.73%), Power Grid (2.50%), ICICI Bank (2.41%) and Maruti Suzuki at 2.28%.

However, TCS, HDFC Bank and Infosys ended in the red with a fall of up to 1.85%.

Broader markets remained positive too, with the BSE mid-cap rising 1.32% and small-cap 0.98%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng firmed up 1.46% and Shanghai composite gained 0.21% while Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.37%.

Europe too was trading mixed, with the London FTSE up 0.15%, Paris down 0.20% and Frankfurt lower 0.10%.

The worryline is foreign funds that persisted with selling shares worth Rs 800.71 crore on Wednesday, showed provisional data.

Of the 30-share Sensex pack, 26 scrips ended higher and 4 moved down.

The market breadth remained positive after 1,963 stocks ended higher, 886 declined while 130 remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE hit Rs 3,151.34 crore, up from Rs 2,608.67 crore on the previous day.