Sensex rallies 245 points, Nifty ends over 8270; Metals lead

Broader market also rose with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap gaining 1.29% and 0.96% respectively

Benchmark indices settled the day higher tracking global markets cues on upbeat economic data and rise in oil prices as investors were optimistic ahead of corporate earnings and Union Budget 2017.
 
Sensex hit its highest in nearly two months during the day, while the broader NSE Nifty hit a near one-month high led by gains in metal, oil & gas, banking and auto sectors.
 
The S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 26,878, up 245 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended 83 points higher at 8,274.
 

Broader market also rose with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap gaining 1.32% and 0.98% respectively.

"Positive global markets following FOMC minutes’ release ensured the Indian markets added to recent gains. But with EC blowing the election bugle, markets were sceptic if it could result in Budget dates being postponed, and give away the economic advantage for FY18, that was intended from an early budget announcement this year," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services in a note.

Market breadth remained positive with 1,939 advances against 889 declines.
 
Sectors and Stocks
 
Adani Ports, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and ONGC are top gainers while TCS and NTPC are the biggest laggards in the Sensex. Only four stocks ended in red on Sensex.

 
On NSE, all except IT index were trading in positive. A bill backing key changes in the H1-B programme that allows skilled workers from countries like India to fill high-tech jobs in the US has been reintroduced in the US Congress by two lawmakers who claim that it will help crack down on the work visa abuse was the primary reason for the IT shares falling in today’s trade.
 
Shares of refinery companies continued their upward move with the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index hitting nine year high on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday. The index closed 1.78% higher.

 
The oil & gas index hit an intra-day high of 12,601, its highest level since January 18, 2008. IOC hit a new high of Rs 354, up 3%, while Oil India touched a fresh 52-week high of Rs 469, up 3% on the BSE. ONGC, HPCL, IOC, BPCL and OIL from the index were up in the range of 2% to 3%.
 
Tata Motors ended over 3% to Rs 501.80 on the BSE after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a strong 30% jump in US sales at 12,573 units in December 2016 against 9,638 units a year earlier.

 
BSE metal index rose around 3% in today’s trade out performing all the other sectoral indices. JSW Steel is the biggest gainer in the sector followed by JSPL, Vedanta and Hind Zinc. All ten index stocks ended in green in the index.
 
Global Markets
 
Asian stocks climbed for an eighth consecutive day on Thursday, buoyed by further gains on Wall Street and an overnight bounce in oil prices that bolstered energy and resource shares.
 
Also underpinning the cautious streak of optimism has been a steady stream of upbeat factory and service sector surveys out of the U.S., Europe and Asia this week, prompting some banks to raise their global growth forecasts for 2017.

 
Markets in Europe open lower after minutes from the last US Federal meeting showed willingness to increase rates at a faster pace. The pan-European Stoxx 600 opened 0.39 points lower with most sectors trading in negative territory while Britain's FTSE 100 index held near record highs.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose more than 1%, extending a rally that has seen it gain 2% in the opening days of 2017.
 
India and Hong Kong led gains, while Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.3% as the yen edged up on the dollar. Philippine shares rose to their highest levels in nearly two months and Singapore shares rose 1.3%.