Market Wrap Podcast, July 29: Here's all that happened in the markets today

US Federal Reserve's assurance that tapering of the stimulus was some time away and with the Chinese government in damage control mode, strength returned to bourses globally and consequently back home. The US Fed chair Jerome Powell overnight said the central bank wishes to see "some strong job numbers" in the coming months before tapering the bond-buying programme. Meanwhile, in China authorities stepped up efforts to calm frayed investor nerves after a market rout.

Against this backdrop, investors flounced back to Street to lap up equities. Sensex ended at 52,653, up 209 points or 0.40 per cent and the NSE Nifty closed the expiry day at 15,778, up 69 points or 0.44 per cent. Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, SBI and HCL Tech were the top gainers while Maruti Suzuki was the worst performer, down 2 per cent, following its Q1 results.

In broader markets, the BSE Smallcap index outperformed with a 0.90 per cent gain while BSE Midcap rose in tandem with Sensex.

The sectoral space was mixed. The Nifty Metal index was the outlier after it rallied over 5 per cent to hit a new high in trade. It was trailed by PSU Bank, Realty and IT indices which gained between 1-3 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty FMCG lost over 1 per cent.

In stock-specific moves, shares of Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem closed at Rs 2,310.25 on the BSE, up 113 per cent over its issue price of Rs 1,083 per share. The scrip had listed at a 95 per cent premium at Rs 2,111.8 and touched intraday high of Rs 2468.30.

Balrampur Chini Mills stock also hit a new high in intra-day session today after the company announced that its board will consider buyback of shares on August 9. The scrip settled nearly 8 per cent up at Rs 375 after hitting a high of Rs 387.10.

Shares of Future Retail ended flat at Rs 60.45 following its June quarter results and after Supreme Court reserved verdict on the pleas of e-commerce giant Amazon against the company's Rs 24,713 crore deal for merger with Reliance Retail.

Tech Mahindra shares gained 0.75 per cent to settle at Rs 1,127.95 ahead of its Q1 earnings. Post-market hours, the IT major reported a better-than-expected jump in Q1 profit at Rs 1,353.2 crore, up 39 per cent YoY.

Going into trade on Friday, investors will react to Tech Mahindra's Q1 results. Further, over 100 companies will announce their June quarter numbers on Friday. Some of the prominent names include Sun Pharma, BHEL, Nazara Technologies, Marico, Britannia, Lodha, IOC and UPL. Globally, investors will eye US GDP data apart from the market mood for further cues.

In the primary market, the Rolex Rings IPO would open for its last day of subscription. So far the issue has been subscribed nearly 9 times. Glenmark Life Sciences, whose issue closes today, has received over 44 times bids.

Globally, Asian stocks advanced. Shanghai Composite index gained 1.49 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 3.30 per cent. Japanese shares rose notably up 0.73 per cent. Europe started upbeat, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.3 per cent and futures on Wall Street also indicated at a firm US opening.