Sensex rises fourth day on the trot, extends week's rally to 3.5%

The over 1,847-point jump this week has come on the aggressive buying for overseas investors and hopes of economic revival following improvement in high-frequency indicators

The benchmark Sensex rose for a fourth straight day on Thursday, extending week-to-date gains to 3.5 per cent. The over 1,847-point jump this week has come on the aggressive buying for overseas investors and hopes of economic revival following improvement in key high-frequency indicators. The weakening of the US dollar and drop in the US bond yields also are seen as the driving factor behind the surge in risk appetite among investors,

The Sensex ended the session at 54,493, up 209 points, or 0.4 per cent. The Nifty rose 36 points, or 0.22 per cent, to close at 16,295. These are fresh all-time highs for both the indices. The Sensex on a year to date basis is up 14 per cent, while the Nifty has gained 16 per cent.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries were the key gainers on Thursday, while financial stocks saw profit-booking.

“Some profit booking at higher levels is not ruled out near 16,350-16,375 resistance levels. Trade setup suggests that the ideal strategy would be to add long positions near crucial supports. For the swing traders, 16,200 and 16,160 would be the key support level to watch out for, and below the same, the index would be vulnerable at 16,160 levels,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities.