Indian shares advanced for the third day in a row, tracking firm global markets, as investors become more confident as concerns over Europe’s debt crisis recede.
On Friday, overseas investors bought shares worth Rs 409.68 crore in the cash market, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares to the tune of Rs 342.63 crore, provisional data on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) website showed. This was the first time since May 11 that foreign institutional investors turned net buyers of Indian shares.
The Sensex rose 196 points, or 1.18 per cent, and closed at 16,863.06. The 30-stock index touched a high of 16,891.17 during the day. It has recovered nearly 840 points in the last three sessions.
“Globally, the mood has improved in the last three days. The Indian market should hold its recent lows at least for some time,” said Satish Menon, director of operations at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. On May 25, the Sensex had ended the day at 16,022.48, its lowest close in more than two-and-a half months.
Reliance Communications (up 5.93 per cent to Rs 147.45), Sterlite Industries (up 5.75 per cent to Rs 681.90) and Jindal Steel (up 4.85 per cent to Rs 653.65) gained the most.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the 50-stock Nifty rose about 63 points, or 1.27 per cent, and closed at 5,066.55.
“The Nifty is likely to remain in the range of 4,750 to 5,200 as the European problem has not played out fully,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, managing director and CEO of Convexity, a Mumbai-based equity broking firm.
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All sectoral indices on BSE ended in the positive, with realty and metal stocks benefiting the most. The BSE Realty index rose 3.92 per cent, while the BSE Metal index ended up 3.54 per cent.
Among realty stocks, Parsvanath Developers rose 11.11 per cent to Rs 124.55, while HDIL advanced 8.82 per cent to Rs 228.90.
Sesa Goa was the biggest gainer in the BSE Metal index. The iron ore miner’s stock rose 10.77 per cent to Rs 373.80.
The market breadth was positive, with more than two stocks advancing for every decline on the BSE.
Earlier, major Asian markets ended higher following the biggest rally in US stocks in almost three weeks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.7 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi gained 1 per cent. The markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were closed today.
European markets were trading in the green at 5:07 pm. UK’s FTSE 100 was up 0.55 per cent, France’s CAC 40 was trading higher 0.10 per cent and Germany’s Dax was up 0.38 per cent.