Sensex at 2-wk high, up 161 pts; IT stocks in limelight

Rising for third straight day, the BSE benchmark Sensex today surged nearly 161 points to close at two-week high level of 19,414 points on fag-end buying in realty, IT and banking shares amid strong global cues.
The 30-share gauge resumed slightly weak and remained listless till late afternoon trade, moving in just over 60 points. However, buying after 1330 hrs lifted it to settle at 19,413.54, a rise of 160.93 points, or 0.84 per cent. In straight three sessions, the index has risen by 535.58 points.
The 50-stock Nifty of the NSE also improved further by 44.70 points, or 0.77 per cent to close at 5,863.30.

Persistent buying by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) also kept the market tempo upbeat. FIIs pumped in Rs 524.05 crore yesterday as per the Sebi data.
"The Indian equity market ended with gains for third straight trading session on Thursday led by capital goods, telecom, FMCG and the banking stocks.
"The realty stocks further surged higher on expectations that the RBI will cut interest rates in its monetary policy review meeting this month. The IT stocks also extended gains led by Infosys, Wipro, TCS & HCL Tech which hit 52-week highs today," said Amar Ambani, head of research India Infoline Ltd.

Brokers said besides momentum in interest-rate sensitive, stocks of software companies surged on hopes of a recovery in the US growth and a better European trend before central bank policy meetings in the region.

Infosys surged 1.29 per cent to Rs 3,004.75, its highest level after March, 2011 and Tata Consultancy Services, the largest software exporter closed at a new high by adding 2.10 per cent to end Rs 1,590.45.
Engineering major L&T shot up by 2.08 per cent to Rs 1,463.45, continuing its rise after CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets upgraded rating on the counter today. Goldman Sachs had upgraded the stock on Monday.

In 30-BSE index components, 10 sectoral indices closed with gains between 0.13 per cent and 1.68 per cent with realty, IT, capital goods, teck and banking segments taking the lead.