Sensex rises 234 pts, goes past 18,000

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex regained the 18,000-mark on Wednesday as investors aggressively bought largecap stocks amid supportive economic data, both in India and abroad.

The 30-stock index gained 1.31 per cent, or 234.75 points, to finish at 18,205.87. It touched an intra-day high of 18,227.14. Nearly half the gains in the Sensex came from the top three index heavyweights – Reliance Industries, Infosys and ICICI Bank.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the 50-stock Nifty advanced 1.29 per cent, or 69.45 points, to 5,471.85.

“All is well in India,” said Gopal Agrawal, equity head at Mirae Asset Management. “Better PMI numbers from China also helped the market rally on Wednesday,” he added.

All sectoral indices ended in the positive territory, with BSE Metal and BSE Realty gaining nearly three per cent each. The market breadth was extremely positive, with close to three stocks advancing for every declining stock on BSE.

In India, the manufacturing sector expanded for the 17th successive month in August, albeit at a slower pace than in July. The HSBC Markit Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) fell to 57.25 last month from 57.6 in July. “There was aggressive buying in largecap stocks, which boosted the market,” said Manish Sonthalia, fund manager at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Reliance Industries rose 2.14 per cent to Rs 938.55 on BSE, contributing about 45 points to the Sensex rally. Infosys climbed 2.43 per cent to Rs 2,773, while ICICI Bank added 2.03 per cent at Rs 997.10.

Most Asian markets closed higher following strong manufacturing figures from China and higher-than-expected economic growth in Australia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.3 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 2.1 per cent.