Sensex at 1-month high; NTPC tanks 11%, Tata Power gains 5%

The benchmark BSE Sensex today rose by 111 points to end at one-month high of 20,811.44 on buying in capital goods, banking, pharma and auto stocks on signs of continued capital inflows, though global trends were weak.
State-owned NTPC, however, tanked 11.43 per cent to end the day as the biggest Sensex loser on concerns that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) tariff regulations would be negative on the power producer.
The 30-share BSE barometer resumed lower and gradually recovered, improving further to settle at one-month high of 20,811.44, a rise or 110.69 points or 0.53 per cent. The last time the key index closed at this level was on January 24.

The 50-issue Nifty of NSE also rose by 30.65 points or 0.50 per cent to close at 6,186.10.
Tata Power was the biggest Sensex gainer at a little over 5 per cent.
"Following the implications that the CERC has announced final tariff orders, NTPC was seen down over 11 per cent... Tata Power was up by over 5 per cent as the latter has been allowed to hike tariff and got relief in form of compensation to make up for losses incurred at its Mundra plant," said Nidhi Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.

Besides Tata Power, major gainers were BHEL at 3.95 per cent, Axis Bank at 3.85 per cent, Larsen 2.85 per cent, Dr Reddy's Lab 2.42 per cent, ONGC 1.86 per cent, Hero Motocorp 1.67 per cent, HDFC 1.53 per cent, Gail India 1.51 per cent, M&M 1.47 per cent, ICICI per cent, Wipro 1.10 per cent and Sun Pharma 0.98 per cent.

Brokers said the market may remain volatile this week on expiry of February contract of futures and options on Wednesday. The stock market will remain closed on February 27 on account of Mahashivratri.
Meanwhile, Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 603.41 crore on last Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.