Positive global cues, foreign funds' inflows lift Indian equities (Roundup)

Positive global cues, coupled with inflows of foreign funds and healthy buying in healthcare, metal and banking stocks, lifted the Indian equity markets on Wednesday -- a day after they suffered steepest fall of the current fiscal.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed just a point behind the 9,900-mark. It closed at 9,899.60 points -- higher by 72.45 points, or 0.74 per cent -- from its previous session's close.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 31,882.80 points, closed at 31,955.35 points -- up 244.36 points, or 0.77 per cent, from the previous close at 31,710.99 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 31,978.89 points and a low of 31,793.72 points during intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,717 advances and 985 declines.

In terms of the broader markets, the BSE mid-cap index rose by 1.01 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.99 per cent.

"Markets rallied higher on Wednesday after the sharp correction seen on Tuesday. Upmove in the frontline indices was triggered by gains in ITC, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) and Reliance Industries," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"The rally came on the back of positive global cues. Asian shares edged higher as optimism on China's economy underpinned Asian shares and commodities. European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX traded higher," Jasani added.

On the currency front, the rupee strengthened by nine paise to 64.29 to a US dollar from its previous close at 64.38.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased scrip worth Rs 1,046.65 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) divested stocks worth Rs 12.48 crore.

"Indian equity benchmarks gained most in over a week led by drug makers and telecom companies. The benchmarks have climbed to multiple fresh peaks this year as domestic and foreign investors bet on strong economic growth and improving sentiment on earnings results," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.

"All major indices, namely BSE IT, consumer durables, Teck, healthcare, metals, oil and gas ended in green."

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE healthcare index augmented by 262.68 points, the metal index by 235.07 points and the banking index by 171.92 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: Bharti Airtel, up 3.21 per cent at Rs 421.35; Coal India, up 2.66 per cent at Rs 255.05; ITC, up 2.42 per cent at Rs 291.50; Dr. Reddy's Lab, up 2.01 per cent at Rs 2,770.25; and TCS, up 1.88 per cent at Rs 2,450.45.

Major Sensex losers were: Infosys, down 0.56 per cent at Rs 979.90; Hero MotoCorp, down 0.49 per cent at Rs 3,766.90; Hindustan Unilever, down 0.46 per cent at Rs 1,152.90; Adani Ports, down 0.26 per cent at Rs 380.60; and HDFC, down 0.19 per cent at Rs 1,650.

--IANS

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