A slew of strong positive macro economic data coupled with hopes of a rate cut by the RBI steered the benchmark Nifty by a hefty 83 points to close at 7,872.25 - its best in two weeks even as Fed's rate hike plan remained in the spotlight.
The overall sentiment turned highly buoyant after the much awaited industrial production expanded at better-than- estimated 4.2 per cent in July this year as against 0.9 per cent growth a year ago, arguementing India's relatively stable growth rate of 7 per cent looks increasingly impressive.
Continuing its deflationary trend for the 10th month in a row WPI inflation data plunged to historic low of(-)4.05 per cent in August and narrowing current account deficit (CAD) to a low 1.2 per cent of GDP at USD 6.2 billion in the June quarter further bolstered the market mood.
Growing expectations of a rate cut by RBI in its upcoming monetary policy review on September 29 in the wake of cooling inflationary pressure, predominantly triggered renewed buying interest, a floor trader said.
The major event this week is the US Fed meeting against the backdrop of uncertainty in global market, he added.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assured global investors of the "fairest and predictable taxation regime" as he invited them to invest in various sectors, including infrastructure, manufacturing and defence.
Overcoming initial bouts of volatility and choppiness, bourses staged a strong rebound in afternoon trading reacting to WPI inflation data, fuelling expectations on the prospects for an out of term rate cut by the apex bank. It kept the momentum going intact till the end session.
Elsewhere in the region, equities ended mixed reacting to sluggish Chinese data and caution ahead of the Fed's policy outcome this week.
The 50-share Nifty index jumped by 82.95 points, or 1.06 per cent to close at 7,872.25 after fluctuating between a high of 7.879.95 and a low of 7,761.85 in early trade.
Among sectoral indices, Metal topped its peers, rallying by (2.68 pc) followed by PSU Bank (2.47 pc), Realty (2 pc), Bank Nifty (1.80 pc), Infra (1.51 pc), Pharma (1.24 pc), IT (0.77 pc), FMCG (0.44 pc) and Auto (0.42 pc).
Major index gainers included ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, SBI, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC, NTPC, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Yes Bank, BPCL, Power Grid, Lupin, Bharti Artel, Tata Steel, Vedanta, Tata Motors and Reliance.
Key losers were TCS, HUL, ITC, Cairn India and Idea.
Shares of select steel stocks attracted huge buying interest on imposition of a 20 per cent safeguards duty on certain steel products to protect the domestic industry.
Turnover in the cash segment shed to Rs 12,444.27 crore from Rs 14,352.13 crore last Friday. A total of 7,202.38 lakh shares changed hands in 6,074,909 trades and the total market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 9,402,968 crore.
