Sensex gets more horsepower on GST optimism, up 170 points

The market marked its second straight week of gains after the BSE Sensex surged about 170 points to close at 26,128.20 -- an over 3-week high -- spurred by hopes that the government will push for a compromise on the GST Bill in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
Sentiment turned bullish after Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Congress President Sonia Gandhi and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh for tea, during which the GST issue may come up.
The beginning of December futures and options series came as a catalyst, which saw participants creating fresh bets.
Surging for the second day, the BSE benchmark got a fresh lease of life on frenzied buying and ended up 169.57 points, or 0.65 per cent, at 26,128.20 -- a level last seen on November 6.

It has advanced 352.46 points in two straight sessions.
Also, the broader NSE Nifty retook the 7,900-mark to close at 7,942.70, a rise of 58.90 points, or 0.75 per cent. Intra-day, it shuttled between 7,959.30 and 7,879.45.

For the week, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty gained 259.71 points, or 1 per cent, and 86.15 points, or 1.09 per cent, respectively.
The gains came mostly from banking, capital goods, metal, PSU, IT and realty even as the global stocks trended lower.
"Nifty shrugged off weak signals from Chinese markets... Improved hopes of clearing GST Bill revived the risk appetite of market participants," said Anand James, Co-Head Technical Research Desk, Geojit BNP Paribas.

Of the 30-pack Sensex, 21 advanced and 9 lost.
Hindalco was the bright spot, up 3.26 per cent, followed by state-owned SBI, L&T, ICICI Bank and Vedanta Ltd.
In the sectoral space, the banking index blazed a trail, rising 1.86 per cent, followed by capital goods, PSU, IT, metal and realty.
However, consumer durables, oil and gas and auto declined by up to 1.38 per cent.
In line with the overall trend, mid-cap and small-cap indices edged higher by up to 0.46 per cent.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 398.10 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.
"Investors are keenly watching updates from RBI's monetary

policy and ECB's policy meet next week. The Chinese market tumbled as the regulator banned some brokerages for infringement of trading rules," said Vinod Nair, Head, Fundamental Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
The market breadth remained positive as 1,391 stocks ended higher, 1,251 finished in the red while 226 ruled steady.
The total turnover was down at Rs 2,721.04 crore, from Rs 2,854.66 crore yesterday.