Sensex gains over 150 points, healthcare stocks rise (Roundup)

A day after it lost over 115 points following the central bank's decision to maintain status quo on key lending rates, a barometer index of the Indian equity markets made gains on Wednesday.

The barometer sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed over 150 points up during the day's trade.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in the green -- 51 points or 0.60 percent up at 8,567.95 points.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 28,138.04 points, closed at 28,223.08 points, up 151.15 points or 0.54 percent from the previous day's close at 28,071.93 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,315.71 points and a low of 28,135.68 in the intra-day trade.

According to analysts, bargain hunting was observed in the market after Tuesday's fall.

"There was bargain hunting. Investors were bullish about the dovish language used by the RBI which indicated higher prospects of an out-of-turn rate cut," Anand James, co-head, technical research desk, Geojit BNP Paribas, told IANS.

"The language used by the RBI on the Indian economic growth, oil prices, monsoon, inflation and the US rate hike gave positive bias to the markets."

James pointed out that the bank's announcements of changing the cap on bond investment limit from being dollar-linked to rupee-denominated, segregation of the bond market and its engagements with the government over the new financial code also boosted the markets.

"There were also positive triggers coming in from stable European and Chinese markets, falling commodity prices and healthy monsoon performance," James added.

Sector-wise, healthy buying was observed in healthcare, automobile, information technology (IT), fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and capital goods sectors.

However, the banking, consumer durables and metal sectors came under selling pressure.

The S&P BSE healthcare index zoomed by 265.67 points, automobile index soared by 200.96 points, IT index rose 194.36 points, FMCG index gained 114.31 points and capital goods index was up 98.30 points.

However, the S&P BSE bank index receded by 71.11 points, consumer durables index eged-lower by 3.84 points and metal index slipped 3.14 points.

Major Sensex gainers during Wednesday's trade were Wipro, up 2.94 percent at Rs.574.60; Infosys, up 2.52 percent at Rs.1,086.55; Bajaj Auto, up 2.36 percent at Rs.2,569.70; Tata Steel, up 2.28 percent at Rs.262.25; and Lupin, up 2.08 percent at Rs.1,678.

The major Sensex losers were: Tata Motors, down 1.10 percent at Rs.376.75; Coal India, down 1.08 percent at Rs.438.05, State Bank of India (SBI), down 0.99 percent at Rs.285.35; ICICI Bank, down 0.96 percent at Rs.311.10; and Hindalco Inds, down 0.91 percent at Rs.108.30.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.46 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 0.44 percent. However, China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 0.46 percent.

In Europe, the London FTSE 100 index was up by 0.37 percent. Germany's DAX Index and French CAC 40 gained 1.29 percent each at the closing bell here.