Sensex touches 21,000 as FIIs remain optimistic of India story

The benchmark BSE Sensex today breached the 21,000-mark after a month, but settled the day a tad lower at 20,986.99, a gain of 135 points, amid mixed trends from global markets.
India's largest gas distributor GAIL rose 2.97 per cent to end the day as the biggest Sensex gainer. Cigarette major ITC recorded a smart gain of 2.07 per cent.
IT stocks continued its winning streak for the second day. Wipro rose 1.38 per cent to trade at its 52-week high level. Infosys was up 0.56 per cent.
Brokers attributed the rally to short coverings by operators because February series of Futures and Options was expiring today.

"IT stocks continued to see buying interest, with Wipro making its 52-week high level. FIIs continued to show optimism in the Indian stock market and were net buyers, particularly for last two weeks, and this also boosted market sentiment," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 423.41 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from stock exchanges.

The 30-share barometer resumed the day stable. It touched intra-day high of 21,005.04 but lost a little momentum and end at 20,986.99, a rise of 134.52 points from its last close.
In straight four sessions, Sensex has surged by 450.35 points or 2.19 per cent.

The previous time the key index breached 21,000-level was on January 24, 2014, when it closed the day at 21,333 points
The 50-issue Nifty on NSE also improved further by 38.75 points to 6,238.80.
Other major Sensex gainers were M&M 2.00 per cent, Dr Reddy's Lab 1.77 per cent, BHEL 1.63 per cent, Sun Pharma 1.33 per cent, Hero Motocorp 1.25 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.09 per cent.
Tata Steel plunged 3.23 per cent, SSLT 2.62 per cent, Tata Power 1.85 per cent and Coal India 1.12 per cent.