Sensex rebounds 291 pts; French Prez race, RIL Q4 in limelight

Stocks made a remarkable comeback today after the benchmark Sensex rebounded 291 points -- its biggest single session gain in nearly 6 weeks -- to close at 29,656 ahead of RIL earnings, with strong cues from the French presidential race guiding the way.
The NSE Nifty too took back the 9,200 level.
European markets rallied as investors gave a thumbs-up to the news that pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron is leading far- right candidate Marine Le Pen in the French presidential poll, which supported the recovery here.
The 30-share Sensex stayed in the green throughout the session and shuttled between 29,681.33 and 29,392.99 before settling up 290.54 points, or 0.99 per cent, at 29,655.84, a level last seen since April 11.

The gauge had lost 57.09 points on Friday largely on profit-booking amid mixed global cues.
The NSE Nifty reclaimed the 9,200-mark by surging 98.55 points, or 1.08 per cent, to close at 9,217.95 after moving in a range of 9,225.40 and 9,130.55.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, "Good results from heavyweights lifted investors' sentiment while signs of revival in earnings are driving the market momentum. Additionally, domestic markets were facilitated by a relief in global market due to a favourable outcome in the French presidential result..."
Among BSE sectoral and industry indices, realty rose the most by 3.02 per cent followed by capital goods (1.66 pc), bank (1.27 pc), auto (1.19 pc), oil&gas (0.72 pc) and metal (0.70 pc) while healthcare fell by (0.43 pc).

"Finally, after few days of pain, the bulls had something to cheer for. The benchmark index opened slightly higher in line with other Asian peers and then went on to give a vertical rally throughout the remaining part of the day," Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst, Technical & Derivatives, Angel Broking said.
Domestic funds bought shares net Rs 1,132.39 crores last Friday while foreign funds sold shares net Rs 978.34 crore as per the provisional figures issued by stock exchanges.
RIL shares climbed 1.19 per cent, to Rs 1,416.40 after soaring to Rs 1,433.75 as participants engaged in widening their position ahead of quarterly earnings, which is scheduled to release its results later in the day.

Shares of HDFC Bank continued its upward journey, closed at record high of Rs 1,532.75, rising 2.41 per cent after the company last week reported an 18.2 per cent growth in net profit for the March-quarter.
Shares of cement major ACC too evoked buying support and rallied 7.36 per cent to Rs 1,606.95 despite the com pay last week reported an 8.90 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 211.06 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017.
Other gainers that contributed to the rise in key indices included GAIL, Axis Bank, L&T, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Ltd, Adani Ports, SBI, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, TCS and ITC Ltd, rising by up to 3.17 per cent.

The broader markets too showed strength with the BSE mid-cap rising 0.95 per cent and small-cap gaining 0.82 per cent as investors raised their bets.
Among European markets, the Paris CAC 40 index shot up 4.3 per cent,Frankfurt's DAX 30 jumped 2.84 per cent, while London's FTSE 100 surged 1.78 per cent.
In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were looking up while Shanghai Composite Index was trading lower.