Mumbai, Sept 15: The BSE Sensex gained 167 points at 16,876.54 today in highly choppy trade ahead of RBI's policy review, as investors indulged in value buying amid firm trend in overseas markets after Germany and France said they would stand behind debt-ridden Greece.
The two countries reaffirmed support for Greece to remain in the euro zone and rejected calls for “orderly insolvency” of the debt-laden nation. This provided some relief to investors and lifted global markets.
Besides, brokers said that slight slip in food inflation to 9.47 per cent for the week ended September 3, from 9.55 per cent in the previous week, gave hope to some investors that the decline will continue and the rate of price rise may remain below double-digit.
Overall inflation for August, however, has edged up closer to the mark, at 9.78 per cent.
Analysts said interest sensitive stocks - realty, banking and auto attracted good value-buying on hopes that RBI may go in for a moderate 25 basis point hike in interest rates, which investors have already factored in.
IT counters too were in demand amid weakening rupee, and a smart rally in the tech-heavy US index, Nasdaq.
The BSE 30-share barometer moved erratically between 16,922.40 and 16,545.47 during the session. It settled at 16,876.54 - a net rise of 166.94 points or 1 per cent. It was up 242 points or 1.47 per cent yesterday.
The NSE 50-share index, Nifty, also gained 63.15 points or 1.26 per cent to 5,075.70.
“The market rallied today as operators don't want to keep their short positions ahead of the central bank's mid-quarter monetary policy meeting tomorrow. Expectations of 25 basis point rise have been factored in,” said Kishor P Ostwal, CMD, CNI Research.
Smart rise in heavyweights—Infosys (2.23 per cent), HDFC (2.61 pc), SBI (3.64 pc), Tata Motors (6.04 pct), RIL (1.19 pc), TCS (2.26 pc), Bharti Airtel (2.25 pc), ICICI Bank (1.06 pc) and HDFC Bank (1.1 pc) together contributed almost 170 points to the Sensex surge.
“Sensex surged into green in the afternoon trades as European markets opened with decent gains,” said Shanu Goel, Senior Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio.
Asian stocks, excepting China, closed higher. Key indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan ended up between 0.71 per cent and 2.17 per cent.
European markets too exhibited strong trends in afternoon deals. The DAX was up 2.21 per cent, the CAC by 2.11 per cent and the FTSE by 1.64 per cent.
However, FIIs seemed to have slowed down their sales after pulling out Rs 1,369 crore in three sessions since September 9. They sold shares worth Rs 9.20 crore yesterday as per Sebi data.
Overall, 20 out of 30 Sensex-based scrips closed with gains while others finished with losses. Other gainers were DLF (4.02 pc), Sterlite Ind (2.33 pc), Jaipra Asso (2.12 pc), Wipro (1.53 pc) and Jindal Steel (1.49 pc).
Among the 13 sectoral indices only two, BSE-Capital Goods and FMCG, closed with small losses while others concluded firm between 3.25 per cent and 0.04 per cent.
Realty index spurted by 3.25 per cent, IT by 2.10 per cent, Teck by 1.89 per cent, Bankex by 1.82 per cent and Auto by 1.65 per cent.
The total market breadth at BSE remained positive as 1,545 stocks ended in the green, while 1,235 settled in the red. The total turnover was relatively low at Rs 2,570.88 crore from Rs 2,623.14 crore yesterday. PTI
