Sensex rebounds from 3-month low, up 216 pts on value-buying

Mumbai :Indian shares rebounded from an oversold position today to rise for the first time in seven days as the benchmark BSE Sensex perked up by more than 216 points on value-buying in recently beaten-down commodity stocks, led by Reliance Industries, Hindalco and Tata Steel.

Traders got into the act of sidelining uncertain global sentiment including caution over the key US Federal Reserve rate decision next week, sustained FII selling and key GST logjam as hectic short-covering and stock specific action in fundamentally strong shares took the key indices to trade in positive terrain despite volatility.

“The swing higher has lot to do with the sustained price falls in the last six days, which the investors may have deemed overdone,” said Anand James, Co Head Technical Research Desk, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

Both the indices, Sensex and Nifty, recorded their biggest single-session gain since November 19.

Moreover, overnight news of 34 per cent jump in indirect taxes during April-November period from customs, excise and service tax also supported the cause.

The 30-share BSE Sensex resumed higher at 25,136.71 and hovered in a range between 25,289.58 and 25,034.14 before closing at 25,252.32, showing a gain of 216.27 points or 0.86 per cent.

The gauge had lost 1,133.36 points in the last six days on sustained foreign fund outflows amid worries about a possible delay in the key tax reform GST bill.

The broad-based Nifty ended 70.80 points or 0.93 per cent higher at 7,683.30 after shuttling between 7,691.95 and 7,610.

In stock-specific action shares of Havells India surged nearly 9 per cent after it announced divestment of majority stake in European lightings operations Sylvania for nearly 148.8 million euros (about Rs 1,090 crore).

Shares of real estate companies such as DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate, Unitech and NBCC were in better form and settled up to 3.26 per cent higher on BSE after the Cabinet approved Real Estate (regulation and Development) bill 2015.

While, the broader markets BSE small-cap and mid-cap also supported the sentiment with a rise of 1.24 per cent and 0.90 per cent, respectively.

Asian stocks ended lower as weak oil prices continued to feed global growth worries, while, European shares fell for a third straight session touching a two-month low, with retailers and technology firms under pressure even as commodity shares stabilised.

Indices in Europe such as France and Germany quoted higher by 0.05 per cent to 0.07 per cent, while UK’s FTSE was quoted lower by 0.30 per cent.

Back home, of the 30-share Sensex pack, 19 scrips ended higher, led by RIL, which surged by 3.71 per cent, followed by Hindalco (3.05 pc), Tata Steel (2.69 pc) and NTPC (2.50 pc).

Other major gainers were NTPC (2.50 pc), HDFC (2.30 pc), Bajaj Auto (2.13 pc), Cipla (1.89 pc), GAIL (1.86 pc), Infosys (1.66 pc) and ITC (1.21 pc).

However, M&M fell by 1.66 per cent followed by Lupin 1.42 per cent, Tata Motors 1.18 per cent, SBI 1.02 per cent, BHEL 0.83 per cent, HUL 0.51 per cent and ICICI Bank 0.33 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral and industry indices, energy rose by 2.41 per cent, followed by oil&gas 1.89 per cent, metal 1.65 per cent, realty 1.63 per cent, utilities 1.41 per cent, IT 1.31 per cent, teck 1.20 per cent, power 1.03 per cent and FMCG 0.97 per cent.

The market breadth remained positive as 1,852 stocks ended higher, 818 finished in red while 184 ruled steady. The total turnover decline to Rs 2,464.84 crore from Rs 2,604.12 crore yesterday.

PTI