Heavy buying, especially in blue-chip stocks, fuelled a robust rally as the benchmark CNX Nifty soared by 79 points and reclaimed the key 5,900 level on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Strong global momentum, expectations of more reforms in sectors like insurance and approval of food security and land acquisition bills in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament amid likelihood of interest rate cut by the RBI next week fired up the market.
The surge was spearheaded by financials, pharma, auto, energy, FMCG, infra and metals stocks. On the other hand technology counters remained under selling pressure.
Trading commenced on a firm note following positive global cues and firm buying as the 50-share index gradually reclaimed the important 5,900 level in afternoon trade.
However, market witnessed heavy amount of volatility at tail-end because of expiry of futures and options contracts as traders covered their short positions.
The April series Futures and Options contract settlement turned out to be an encouraging event with the Nifty comfortably closing above 5,900 mark, traders said.
Global equity markets are witnessing strong momentum on growing expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will soon join other major central banks in undertaking more monetary easing steps.
Asian markets rallied for a second day ahead of Japan's policy decision on Friday despite weak overnight close on Wall Street. European stocks were up in afternoon after paring early losses, buoyed by better-than-expected first quarter gross domestic product data from UK.
The Nifty hit a high of 5,924.60 and a low of 5,853.30 before finishing at 5,916.30, posting a steep rise of 79.40 points, or 1.36 per cent, over the last close.
Dr Reddy's, NTPC, Tata Motors, HeroMotor, Axis Bank, Ambuja Cement, UltraTech, HDFC, Grasim and Gail were among top Nifty movers. Key losers included HCL Tec, TCS, DLF, Infosys, JP Associates, Jindal Steel, HUL, NMDC, ONGC and RInfra.
Aviation stocks were in focus after the Etihad Airways-Jet Airways deal. The Jet share rallied to close at Rs 634.80 after hitting a new 52-week high in early trade. SpiceJet rose a hefty 18 per cent, while Kingfisher gained modestly.
The traded volume was substantially high. Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 15,609.32 crore from Rs 9,974.32 crore on Tuesday. A total of 7,550.29 lakh shares changed hands in 64,15,731 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 64,58,320 crore.
