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Rising for a third straight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex on Thursday gained 271 points to end at 28,805.10 and the National Stock Exchange's Nifty rose 84 points to end at 8,711.55, on a flurry of late buying in anticipation of positive retail inflation and IIP data.
The Sensex has now gained by 577.71 points, or 2.05 per cent, in three days.
A good showing by Europe also influenced trading, brokers said, adding global investors lapped up a dose of monetary stimulus from Sweden's central bank and reports that Russia and Ukraine have agreed a ceasefire will take place.
In domestic stocks, all the sectoral indices, barring FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sector, closed in the positive terrain, with capital goods, power and information technology sectors leading the rally.
In key earnings, Hindalco Industries reported 7.5 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter. Its shares ended higher by two per cent.
“After trading range-bound for most part of the session, sudden surge in last hour helped index to end with decent gains. It seems participants bought stocks in anticipation of strong macroeconomic data of IIP and CPI inflation, scheduled post market,” said Religare Securities, president-retail distribution, Jayant Manglik.
Sentiments were buoyed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the defeat in the Delhi Assembly polls will not slow the pace of economic reforms and optimism over the coming Budget.
In Europe, stocks were trading higher in their early trade. The UK’s FTSE 100 was up 0.36 per cent, France’s CAC-40 was up 0.67 per cent and Germany’s DAX 1.23 per cent.
Asian stocks ended mixed, as key indices in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan rose 0.36 per cent to 1.85 per cent, while Singapore and South Korea were down 0.21 per cent to 0.74 per cent.
Foreign portfolio investors net-sold shares worth Rs 371.27 crore on Wednesday, according to the stock exchanges data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 147.49 crore.
As many as 23 scrips, of the 30-share Sensex, ended higher while seven counters finished lower.
Major gainers include Dr Reddy’s (5.49 per cent), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (4.98 per cent), Cipla (4.07 per cent), Gail India (3.23 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (2.51 per cent), Sesa Sterlite (2.04 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (2.02 per cent) and Tata Power (1.95 per cent).
Hero MotoCorp (1.9 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.8 per cent), Axis Bank (1.69 per cent), NTPC (1.7 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.4 per cent), Infoys (1.24 per cent), Reliance Industries (one per cent) and Wipro (one per cent) also notched up smart gains. Among Sensex laggards, Hindustan Unilever dropped 1.5 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.4 per cent and Bharti Airtel one per cent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, power rose 2.51 per cent, followed by capital goods 2.33 per cent, health care 1.69 per cent, auto 1.47 per cent, realty 1.28 per cent and IT 1.04 per cent.
The total market breadth remained positive as 1,616 stocks ended in green, 1,229 finished in green while 126 ruled steady. The total turnover rose to Rs 3,842.48 crore from Rs 3,269.77 crore on Wednesday.
