Sensex rises 38 points to two-week high; ITC, HUL, HDFC shine

In volatile trade, the benchmark Sensex today rose 38.18 points to end at a two-week high of 25,918.95 on the back of key bluechip shares ignoring a rise in retail inflation and slowing industrial production growth.
Buying in FMCG stocks ITC and HUL, who were the top gainers from the Sensex pack, helped steady the volatile Sensex which slipped into negative territory intra-day. Smart rise in HDFC, Sun Pharma and TCS, also supported the index.
Selling in L&T, SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, BHEL, Hindalco, Coal India, Tata Steel, Tata Power and Cipla capped the rise, brokers said.
The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex today gyrated in a range of 25,972.62 and 25,791.79 before settling at 2-week high of 25,918.95, a rise of 38.18 points or 0.15 per cent. This is its the best closing since July 30 (26,087.42).

In straight three sessions, Sensex has flared up by 589.81 points or 2.33 per cent.
The broad-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also rose further by 12.50 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 7,739.55.

Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "Equities closed better with the help of some blue chip companies. Positive sentiments in the market has boosted the confidence of the investors. FII buying in the equities also helped the indices to end positively."
Encouraging earnings from some corporates as well as renewed FII buying interest along with positive global cues too supported the market sentiment.

FIIs bought shares worth a net Rs 370.83 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Retail inflation, announced by the government after market hours yesterday, measured on consumer price index (CPI) in inched up to 7.96 per cent in July compared with 7.46 per cent in June.
The growth rate of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) also slowed to 3.4 per cent in June as against 5.0 per cent (revised) in May, showing signs of sluggishness in the economy.