Mumbai: The bulls firmly took back control on Monday after a day’s pause as the benchmark Sensex sprinted almost 217 points to 25,735.90 driven by a rally in banking, and metal stocks and firm overseas leads.
The NSE Nifty too regained the psychological 7,800-mark. After opening weak, the 30-share Sensex slipped further on profit-booking and prevailing confusion over the GST Bill. But it bounced back strongly and closed higher by 216.68 points, or 0.85%, at 25,735.90.
On Friday, the Sensex dropped for the first time in five days as the government lowered its growth forecast for 2015-16 to 7-7.5% from the earlier 8.1-8.5%.
The broader Nifty closed at 7,834.45, up 72.50 points, or 0.93%. Intra-day, it touched a low of 7,733.45.
“As the event risk associated with a Fed rate hike passed over last week, investor participation seemed more sure-footed in the market,” said Shreyash Devalkar, Fund Manager Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
A firm trend in Asia and a higher opening of European markets buoyed shares, helping Sensex cover up its initial losses. Sentiment was propped up by hopes that Parliament would manage to pass other key legislations, including the bankruptcy Bill.
The rupee was in a sweet spot for the fifth day in a row against the American currency at 66.35, which buoyed mood further.
The recovery in Sensex was supported by gains in ICICI Bank, up 3.24%, while ONGC surged 3.16% and ITC 2.68%. M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank and SBI advanced.
Sun Pharma was the biggest loser, tumbling 4.55%, as the company has received a warning letter from USFDA on manufacturing practices at its facility at Halol in Gujarat.
While most foreign investors went on vacation ahead of Christmas and New Year, it’s the domestic financial institutions who backed up.
Sector-wise, the BSE metal index gained the most, rising 1.47%, followed by banking, realty, PSU and FMCG.
In broader markets, the BSE small-cap rose 0.82% and mid-cap ended 0.64% higher on the fresh spell of buying by retail investors.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 6.99 crore last Friday, provisional data released by the stock exchanges showed.
PTI