A day after closing at their lowest levels in a week's time, key Indian equity indices -- the NSE Nifty50 and the BSE Sensex -- on Wednesday surged on the back of positive global cues and healthy buying in metal, oil and gas, and banking stocks.
According to market observers, easing geo-political tension in East Asia and healthy buying in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Adani Ports, HDFC and Tata Steel aided the upward trajectory of the indices.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reclaimed the psychologically important 9,900-mark to touch a high of 9,909.45 points during intra-day trade.
However, the Nifty50 could not retain that level and closed at 9,884.40 points -- up 88.35 points or 0.90 per cent.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 31,534.57 points, closed at 31,646.46 points -- up 258.07 points or 0.82 per cent from its previous close at 31,388.39 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 31,727.98 points and a low of 31,533.02 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,805 advances and 770 declines.
"Markets rallied sharply on Wednesday after the sharp correction seen on Tuesday. Positive global cues aided the market sentiments," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said: "Market recouped from the previous day's loss, taking cues from positive global markets due to no further escalation in the geopolitical tensions. The domestic market was also filliped by the better than anticipated tax collection under the GST regime."
"Mid and small-caps outperformed the broader market as investors saw buying opportunity in corrections," Nair added.
In terms of the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index rose by 1.49 per cent, and the small-cap index by 1.35 per cent.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee closed on a flat note at 64.02 to a US dollar from its previous close.
"Trading volumes, however, were muted as floods caused by heavy seasonal monsoon rains destroyed homes and disrupted traffic in Mumbai, India's financial capital on Tuesday, causing many people to stay home on Wednesday," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.
"Oil marketing companies traded higher. Auto and auto ancillary stocks continued to trade higher even after the Cabinet cleared an ordinance to hike cess on luxury cars and sport-utility vehicles to 25 per cent from 15 per cent under the GST regime at present," Desai told IANS.
Sector-wise, all the 19 sub-indices of the BSE ended in the green, led by the S&P BSE metal index, which surged by 342.40 points.
This was followed by the S&P BSE oil and gas index, which rose by 341.57 points, the banking index by 214.44 points and the consumer durables index by 211.93 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: Reliance Industries, up 2.12 per cent at Rs 1,564.15; Adani Ports, up 1.94 per cent at Rs 389.65; HDFC, up 1.83 per cent at Rs 1,759.50; Coal India, up 1.39 per cent at Rs 241.50; and Tata Steel, up 1.35 per cent at Rs 638.65.
Major Sensex losers were: Mahindra and Mahindra, down 1.28 per cent at Rs 1,360.10; Power Grid, down 0.35 per cent at Rs 215.05; NTPC, down 0.30 per cent at Rs 168; Cipla, down 0.19 per cent at Rs 566.85; and Dr. Reddy's Lab, down 0.16 per cent at Rs 2,040.35.
--IANS
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