Sensex zooms 427 pts, Nifty above 7,800 on upbeat global cues

Mumbai :The benchmark BSE Sensex gave up some of the initial gains in late morning deals, but was still trading up by 308 points at 25,625.90 on upbeat global cues.

All the 12 BSE sectoral indices were in the green led by realty, metal, IT, teck, consumer durables, auto, oil&gas and healthcare.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was also strong. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap index was up 1.67 per cent and 1.64 per cent, respectively.

The Sensex resumed higher at 25,682.87 and moved in a range of 25,753.93 and 25,573.73 before quoting 25,625.90 at 1100 hours, up 308.03 points or 1.22 per cent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty also moved up 99.40 points or 1.29 per cent to 7,787.65 at 1100 hours.

Major gainers were, Vedanta (7.87 pc), Hindalco (4.26 pc), Tata Steel (3.08 pc), Infosys (2.71 pc), Hero MotoCorp (1.71 pc), NTPC (1.53 pc) and Axis Bank (1.52 pc).

While, HUL and GAIL were the only losers, down by 1.05 per cent and 1.03 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 659.67 crs yesterday.

In overseas markets, Asian shares surged, inspired by the positive finish in offshore markets and as investors bet on China to step on the stimulus soon.

Nikkei rallied by 5.79 per cent, followed by Shanghai 1.69 per cent, Hang Seng 2.89 per cent, South Korea 2.30 per cent and Taiwan 3.45 per cent.

The Indian rupee trimmed initial gains but was still trading up by 17 paise to 66.38 against the US currency on bouts of dollar selling by some banks and exporters.

The domestic unit resumed sharply higher at 66.38 per dollar as against yesterday’s level of 66.55 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.

It hovered in a range of 66.26 to 66.42 during the morning deals before quoting 66.38 at 1030 hrs.

The rupee had strengthened against the US dollar after touching an intra-day high of 66.80 yesterday due to selling by custodial banks and some buying from PSBs to meet the oil demand.” a forex dealer said.

“The rupee will take cues from the equity market and is expected to trade in a range of 66.42-66.72 per dollar,” he added.

The dollar index is currently up 0.25 per cent at 96.11 against a basket of six currencies.

Oil prices edged higher in quiet Asian early trade as dealers set aside weak Chinese trade data and looked ahead to the release of a US stockpiles report, analysts said.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by 346 points or 1.37 per cent to 25,664.19 at 1030 hrs.

PTI