Strong buying in frontline heavyweights mainly in financials, FMCG and energy counters helped the benchmark CNX Nifty to gain a healthy 40 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Shares recovered some ground after being hammered on Friday due to poor Q4 results from IT giant Infosys.
After a sluggish opening on the back of continued selling in technology stocks, market rebounded in late morning trade, reacting positively to March inflation data which dropped to 5.96 per cent, a 40-month low.
The key index managed to consolidated most of its gains amid short covering support despite some selling at higher levels, and closed with good gains.
Inflation-based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) dipped to 5.96 per cent in March from 6.84 per cent in February, rekindling rate cut hopes by RBI at its policy meet on May 3. Retail inflation also showed declining trend last week.
The 50-share Nifty oscillated between a high of 5,592.85 and a low of 5,500.30 before concluding at 5,568.40, a smart gain of 39.85, or 0.72 per cent over the last close.
BPCL, Bank of Baroda, ONGC, PNB, SBIN, UltraTech, Reliance, Bharti, Reliance Infra and Grasim were among the top index gainers. Key losers included Sesa Goa, Dr Reddy's, TCS, DLF, Tata Motors, Cipla, Tata Steel, Coal India, Tata Power and M&M.
Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 11,435.89 crore from Rs 11,025.78 crore last Friday. A total of 5,222.31 lakh shares changed hands in 57,95,828 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 61,75,107 crore.
