Equities surge on short-covering, positive global cues

5 Dariya News

Mumbai , 25 Jan 2017

Short-covering on the back of futures and options (F&O) expiry, coupled with rupee appreciation and positive global indices, cheered the Indian equities markets on Wednesday.Besides, healthy quarterly results, inflow of foreign funds and hopes of incentives in the upcoming Union budget kept investors' sentiments buoyed.Healthy buying was witnessed in banking, automobile and consumer durables stocks which boosted the key indices to close the day's trade with substantial gains of around 1.5 per cent each.Further, the key indices touched their highest respective intra-day levels since November 10th, 2016.The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surged by 126.95 points or 1.50 per cent, to 8,602.75 points.The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,462.83 points, closed at 27,708.14 points -- up 332.56 points or 1.21 per cent from the previous close at 27,375.58 points.The Sensex touched a high of 27,736.82 points and a low of 27,439.68 points during the intra-day trade.The BSE market breadth was in favour of the bulls -- with 1,498 advances and 1,245 declines.
In terms of the broader markets, the BSE mid-cap index rose by 0.90 per cent, while the BSE small-cap index was up 0.87 per cent.
On Tuesday, the NSE Nifty rose by 84.30 points or 1.00 per cent, to close at 8,475.80 points, while the BSE Sensex was up 258.24 points or 0.95 per cent.According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the equities markets held on to their initial gains throughout the day's trade."IT and pharma sectors were underperformers today and closed in the negative, whereas banks, metal and auto sector shined today," Desai told IANS. "Today's positive F&O expiry indicated that market may continue this positive momentum till budget. Overseas market also traded in the green giving positive triggers to our market."Other market observers pointed out that investors were in 'no mood' to let go off the pre-budget rally.
"Rollovers gained traction after a cold start on Monday, prompting short-covering, and positive global markets also lent an ideal setting for overall positivity," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.In addition, the Indian rupee traded higher and strengthened by seven paise to 68.08 against a US dollar from its previous close of 68.15 to a greenback.The provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased stocks worth Rs 1,378.81 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought scrip worth Rs 383.03 crore.Sector-wise, the S&P BSE banking index surged by 505.43 points, followed by the automobile index, which increased by 301.92 points, and the consumer durables index, which rose by 278.30 points.On the other hand, the S&P BSE IT index slipped by 22.23 points, the telecom index fell by 6.55 points and the TECK (technology, media and entertainment) index inched down by 4.49 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: HDFC, up 4.31 per cent at Rs 1,3360; Adani Ports, up 3.61 per cent at Rs 303.85; Hero MotoCorp, up 3.42 per cent at Rs 3,240.35; Axis Bank, up 2.76 per cent at Rs 463.70; and Coal India, up 2.13 per cent at Rs 316.10.
Major Sensex losers were: Wipro, down 1.59 per cent at Rs 473.45; Bharti Airtel, down 1.52 per cent at Rs 311.55; Reliance Industries, down 1.06 per cent at Rs 1,016.70; Sun Pharma, down 0.94 per cent at Rs 636.10; and Infosys, down 0.89 per cent at Rs 936.65.The equities markets will be closed tomorrow on account of Republic Day.