Sensex rebounds on monsoon optimism, recaptures 25k-mark

Stocks: The miniature trading week saw optimism ruling the equities momentum as the benchmark Sensex zoomed 952.91 points, while recapturing the key 25k level and the broader Nifty reclaiming 7,850-mark.
The three-day trading week on account of holidays due to Ambedkar Jayanti and Ram Navmi saw traders reflecting overall bullishness on equities after previous couple of weeks' slide.
The dip in retail inflation and rebound in Industrial Production numbers augured hope of another rate cut from RBI and above all Met Department's forecast of a good monsoon for the sub-continent after two consecutive years of drought buoyed up the domestic stock recovery.

Positive global cues as crude closed at its best level in nearly three weeks after Russia said it anticipates flat crude output next year also spruced up the sentiment.
Expecting big earning-results propped up IT sectors, while good sales led to buying spree at auto counters as well as banking stocks surged on hope of RBI rate-cut and growth.
The Sensex resumed higher at 24,789.40 and hovered between 25,671.50 and 24,523.20 before closing the week at 25,626.75, showing a gain of 952.91 points or 3.86 per cent.

The Sensex had lost 663.72 or 2.62 per cent in previous two weeks.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also rebounded by 295.25 points or 3.91 per cent to reclaim 7,850.45.
It has also witnessed a loss of 161.30 points or 2.09 per cent in previous two weeks.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought
shares worth whopping Rs 1,228.20 crore during the week as per Sebi's record including the provisional figure of April 13.
Stock markets were closed on April 14 and April 15 on account of 'Ambedkar Jayanti' and 'Ram Navmi'.
In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap index rose by 322.04 points or 3.04 per cent to settle at 10,916.30. The BSE small-cap index also rose by 278.56 points or 2.61 per cent to settle at 10,943.02. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

Among the S&P, BSE sector and industry indices, auto rose 7.36 per cent, followed by Bankex 4.79 per cent, power 4.01 per cent, capital goods 3.41 per cent, oil & gas 3.27 per cent, consumer durables 3.06 per cent, realty 3.05 per cent, FMCG 2.86 per cent, teck 2.54 per cent, metal 2.53 per cent, IT 1.98 per cent and healthcare 1.82 per cent.
In the 30-share Sensex pack, barring Coal India, others ended higher during the week.
Major gainers were Tata Motors (9.77 per cent), Maruti (8.92 per cent), Bhel (8.90 per cent), ICICI Bank (8.85 per cent), among others.

However, shares of state-run Coal India fell by 1.27 per cent.
Forex: The rupee recovered by 30 paise to 67.07 against
the American currency following fresh selling of dollars by banks and exporters on the back of good foreign capital inflows, amid sharp recovery in domestic equities.
Foreign portfolio investors and foreign institutional investors pumped in USD 387.61 millions during the first four days of the week as per Sebi's record.
The Indian benchmark sensex recovered by 709.60 points or 2.62 per cent during the week.
The rupee opened higher at 67.12 per dollar as against the last weekend's level of 67.37 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex), and hovered in a range of 66.83 and 67.22 per dollar before finishing the week at 67.07 per dollar, showing a gain of 30 paise or 0.45 per cent.

The rupee rallied to 5-week high at 66.83 per dollar during the week. The rupee had last settled at 66.76 per dollar on June 10, 2016.
In overseas markets, the dollar was on track yesterday to book its largest weekly gain against the yen since February 1999 as a string of strong US economic data and expectations of fiscal stimulus from Japan helped the greenback to strengthen.
The last time the greenback strengthened this rapidly was February 19,1999, when the Bank of Japan adopted a zero interest-rate policy.
The ICE US dollar index DXY, a measure of the greenback's strength against a basket of six rivals, was up 0.5 percent at 96.5490.