Sensex bounces back, up 156 pts

After a loss of 206.13 points in two sessions, BSE Sensex today bounced back on renewed buying interest at lower levels. At the end of a volatile day's trade, Sensex closed at 8944.78, up 155.97 points. The S&P Nifty ended the day 46.70 point upwards at 2698.95.

Reliance stocks ended up in black, shrugging off reports that the market regulator, Sebi, has asked the Ambani brothers about details of the demerger scheme of Reliance Industries.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 1 per cent to close at Rs 841.40. Reliance Energy was the biggest gainer among Sensex stocks, moving up 5.60 per cent to close at Rs 619.95.

Cement, aluminium, pharma and four-wheeler stocks saw active buying interest. Among 30 Sensex stocks, 29 ended up in positive territory.

Most Asian markets also ended higher on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225-share average rose 1.74 per cent to close above 15,000 for the first time in five years, while South Korea's Kospi finished at a record high of 1305.98, up 0.66 per cent.

According to Manish Shah, head of retail products and strategy at Motilal Oswal Securities, the markets are in a momentum zone, with fresh inflows driving up stock prices.

Good economic numbers have also contributed to the renewed buying interest, say analysts. Sindhu Sameer, head of sales at Karvy Stock Broking said that the outlook on the markets was positive. "There may be intermittent corrections, but overall the outlook is bullish," he said.

Strong institutional buying has been the main reason for improvement in market sentiments. FIIs have been net buyers for the past 13 session in Indian equities, while domestic funds have also been in a buying mode.

ACC (up 4.90 per cent at Rs 534.05) and Larsen & Toubro (up 4.39 per cent at Rs 1766.80) were also big gainers, notching up their 52-week highs in the process. Cipla (up 3.90 per cent at Rs 413.15) and Tata Motors (up 3.16 per cent at Rs 5731.5) also posted impressive gains. The only Sensex stock to decline was Hero Honda, which lost 1.20 per cent to close at Rs 822.10.

All sectoral indices posted gains today. BSE Capital Goods Index (2.69 per cent) and BSE IT Index (up 2.51 per cent) were the biggest gainers. The turnover at the BSE amounted to Rs 3176.88 crore, compared to Rs 3,528 crore on Wednesday.