Sensex, Nifty gain most in nearly 2 weeks; rupee up, oil slips

Snapping a two-day fall, equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty today logged their best gains in almost two weeks to rebound in the final hour led by buying in bluechips including RIL, ICICI Bank, ONGC and L&T shares, amid slight recovery in rupee and marginal drop in oil prices.
The BSE 30-share gauge resumed almost stable and moved in a narrow range till 2:00 pm, but a sudden gust of buying after mid-session pushed the Sensex higher and settled at 25,521.19, a rise of 330.71 points or 1.31 per cent. In two sessions of losses, it had plunged by 385.73 points or 1.51 per cent.

The wide-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also bounced back by 98.15 points, or 1.30 per cent, to close at 7,631.70.
For both indices, today's rise was their best since June 6 when Sensex surged 376.95 points and Nifty by 109.30 points.
Smart rise in index-based counters like RIL, ICICI Bank, ONGC, L&T, SBI, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, BHEL, Gail India and Maruti Suzuki helped.
Buying was so strong that 11 out of 12 BSE sectoral indices closed with gains while only FMCG finished with minor losses. Oil&Gas, banking, capital goods, power and metal indices were at the forefront, say dealers.

Asian markets were mixed Tuesday, following a tepid lead from Wall Street ahead of a US Federal Reserve policy meeting, while oil edged down a touch from nine-month highs as traders nervously watch the crisis in Iraq.

In the afternoon US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell 39 cents to USD 106.51 a barrel in afternoon trade, while Brent crude for August declined 42 cents to USD 112.52.
Besides largecap stocks, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices also rose on good demand from retail investors.
The rupee recovered from six-week low of 60.51 against the US dollar to trade at 59.95 in late afternoon.

Dipen Shah, Head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities, said: "The market rise was surprising and likely a result of some fund buying in the large cap stocks."
Additionally, positive statement by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on readiness to deal with any external shocks arising due to ongoing Iraq crisis boosted sentiments.