Sensex rises to highest level in two years

The key domestic equity index, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex, today rose to its highest in over two years and was close to the 18,000-mark.

Heavy buying in Reliance Industries, Reliance Infrastructure, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and DLF saw the Sensex gain 1.37 per cent, or 243 points, to close at 17,935.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up 1.47 per cent or 78 points at 5,368. The BSE small-cap index was up nearly 2 per cent, while its mid-cap index rose 1.5 per cent.

The gains in domestic markets were in line with global peers after an encouraging US job report last Friday. The US Labor Department had said employers added 1,62,000 jobs in March, the largest in three years. While US markets were shut on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial had risen 0.7 per cent on Thursday, a new high for the year.

Among the Asian markets, equity benchmarks in Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore were up by between 0.09 and 2 per cent, while markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were shut for holidays.

“Domestic markets were rising on huge foreign flows of money, as the dollar was weakening. The foreign money flow is likely to continue for some time but major money is flowing into small- and mid-cap stocks rather than large caps,” said Deven Choksey, managing director of K R Choksey Shares and Securities.

The BSE IT index was down marginally, as the rupee strengthened against the dollar. Software companies get most of their revenues from exports and they did not participate in the rally, as the rupee rose to a 19-month high, resulting in worries that it could hit the margins of IT companies.

Top outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services shed 0.6 per cent, while Wipro was barely changed at close. Foreign funds invested around $4.4 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) in Indian stocks between January 1 and March 31, of which 90 per cent came in March.

“Markets are making higher tops and those index stocks which had underperformed the Sensex for quite some time have started moving up. The near-term target for Nifty is 5,450 and it is likely that markets may not fall below 5,000 till the results season is on,” said R L Narayanan, vice president of equities at Bonanza Portfolio.

The market breadth was positive, as 76 per cent or 2,222 stocks rose, against the declines of 22 per cent or 640 stocks.

The BSE Realty index, up 2.7 per cent, was the top gainer among sectoral indices followed by the BSE Oil & Gas index and Auto index( both up 2 per cent).