Positive global cues, coupled with strong buying support, lifted the Indian equity markets on Tuesday.
The key domestic indices saw a bout of strong buying activity during the last hour of the day's trade and closed with gains of around half a per cent each.
Healthy buying was witnessed in automobile, banking, and oil and gas stocks.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) edged up by 46.50 points or 0.55 per cent to 8,543.55 points.
The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,537.26 points, closed at 27,591.14 points -- up 132.15 points or 0.48 per cent from the previous close at 27,458.99 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 27,646.84 points and a low of 27,406.76 points during the intra-day trade.
In contrast, the BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,528 declines and 1,354 advances.
The broader markets underperformed the headline indices marginally, ending with modest gains. The midcap index ended higher by 0.28 per cent and the smallcap index marginally moved up by 0.04 per cent.
On Monday, the Indian equity markets closed in the green due to positive global cues.
The barometer index rose by 184.84 points or 0.68 per cent, while the NSE Nifty edged up by 63.30 points or 0.75 per cent.
Initially on Tuesday, the key Indian indices opened in the green in sync with their Asian peers.
The global markets traded largely on a positive note, as investors' expected a possible win of Democratic party's candidate Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election to be held later on Tuesday.
"The Sensex and Nifty both ended in the green basically due to an overall positive trend in the global markets on the expectation of possible win of democrat Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election," Astha Jain, Senior Research Analyst, Hem Securities, told IANS.
"On the domestic front, data showed that the cargo traffic at India's top 12 ports was up six per cent as compared to last year, indicatiing major trading activity. The rupee showed some strength on the back of a weak dollar and expectation of a strong economy."
The Indian rupee appreciated by 12 paise to 66.62 against a US dollar from its previous close of 66.74 to a greenback.
Moreover, short covering and value buying led the key indices in paring their losses.
According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the CNX Nifty witnessed healthy buying support to recover from the lower levels during the second half of the session.
"IT, banking, media-entertainment, auto and oil-gas stocks traded with mixed sentiments in the first half, but recovered well in the second half of the session. However, pharma, textile, aviation and FMCG stocks faced selling pressure," Desai said.
"Power stocks traded down, while cement stocks managed to hold the gains on strong buying support."
In terms of investments, provisional data with exchanges showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 86.66 crore, and the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrip worth Rs 294.06 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE automobile index surged by 365.43 points, the banking index rose by 183.26 points, and the oil and gas index edged up by 117.28 points.
In contrast, the S&P BSE healthcare index declined by 190.14 points, the FMCG index fell by 15.26 points, and the realty index inched down by 2.62 points.
Major Sensex gainers during Tuesday's trade were: Tata Motors, up 6.49 per cent at Rs 540.20; Gail, up 2.94 per cent at Rs 438.85; Asian Paints, up 1.82 per cent at Rs 1,056.50; Power Grid, up 1.67 per cent at Rs 177; and ICICI Bank, up 1.60 per cent at Rs 283.20.
Major Sensex losers were: Sun Pharmaceuticals, down 3.35 per cent at Rs 635.25; Cipla, down 1.74 per cent at Rs 536.25; Maruti Suzuki, down 1.03 per cent at Rs 5,661.95; Adani Ports, down 0.94 per cent at Rs 290.90; and NTPC, down 0.71 per cent at Rs 154.10.
--IANS
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