A sharp recovery in the rupee value as well as buoyant global sentiments sparked a renewed investor interest as the NSE benchmark CNX Nifty today shot up by 47 points on the National Stock Exchange.
Heavy buying in financial, healthcare, technology, energy and capital goods counters, alongside some short-covering, fuelled the rally.
Stability in rupee, which recovered from a life-time low of 61.21 against the dollar yesterday, triggered a buying spree. The Indian unit stabilised after market watchdog Sebi and Reserve Bank announced steps to curb speculative trade in currency derivatives, and also due to market intervention, which eased concerns on capital outflows.
After a firm start, the 50-share index remained range-bound, but later consolidated gains. Sugar stocks rallied as much as 7.4 per cent on the Government decision to hike import duty on the sweetener to 15 per cent from 10 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, stocks recovered from overnight fall following a rally in Wall Street, boosted by a strong start to US earnings season with bellwether Alcoa beating expectations.
European markets extended rally, buoyed by the political stability reached in Portugal and further bailout fund approval for Greece, easing renewed eurozone fears.
The Nifty hovered between a high of 5,864.95 and a low of 5,834.60 before finishing at 5,859, registering a sharp rise of 47.45, or 0.82 per cent, over its last close.
Power Grid, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, Reliance Infra, IndusInd Bank, JP Associates, UltraTech, Bank of Baroda, Bajaj Auto and L&T were among the prominent gainers. Key laggards included Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, HUL, M&M, ONGC, Maruti, ACC, Cairn, GAIL and BPCL.
Turnover in the cash segment spiked to Rs 9,228.56 crore from Rs 8,994.16 crore yesterday. A total of 5,230.08 lakh shares changed hands in 50,789,38 trades. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 62,65,929 crore.
