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Business News/ Market / Stock-market-news/  Sensex roars back to life, gains 517 points
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Sensex roars back to life, gains 517 points

Positive global cues, lower oil prices inject fresh energy into shares, Nifty ends just shy of the 8,500 mark

The Sensex closed higher by 1.88%, or 517.22 points, at 27,975.86, while the 50-share CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange ended up 1.81%, or 150.90 points, at 8,492.30 points. Photo: BloombergPremium
The Sensex closed higher by 1.88%, or 517.22 points, at 27,975.86, while the 50-share CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange ended up 1.81%, or 150.90 points, at 8,492.30 points. Photo: Bloomberg

Mumbai: The 30-share bellwether BSE Sensex rose sharply on Monday at the start of a holiday-shortened trading week, helped by positive global cues and lower oil prices.

The Sensex closed 1.88%, or 517.22 points, higher at 27,975.86 points while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) 50-share CNX Nifty ended up 1.81%, or 150.90 points, at 8,492.30 points, on the eve of the financial year end.

Market breadth was positive, with shares of almost three companies rising for every one that declined.

Stock markets will be closed on 2 and 3 April for Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday, respectively.

The benchmark indices have declined for three consecutive weeks, giving up 3% last week. The Sensex had a seven-day losing streak before closing flat on Friday.

“Positive global cues helped the market recover today, in line with global markets, and softer crude oil prices also helped," said Rahul Shah, vice-president, equity advisory group, at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, adding that the markets were oversold last week.

European shares were firm after Asian markets rose on hopes for a stimulus to boost China’s economy.

Oil prices slipped as officials from Iran and six world powers discussed a possible deal over Tehran’s nuclear programme that could bring an end to sanctions and allow an increase in Iranian oil exports, Reuters reported.

At 10.00pm India time, Brent crude was down 1.5% to $55.55 per barrel.

“Also, mutual funds were around to ensure their NAVs (net asset values) were propped up before the year end," said Shah of Motilal Oswal.

According to provisional data from the NSE, domestic institutional investors (DIIs), which mainly comprise mutual funds and insurance companies, bought 651.67 crore of Indian shares on Monday.

This was the fourth straight session that DIIs remained net buyers. For the year to date , DIIs have been net sellers to the tune of 6,258.84 crore mainly due to a lack of buying by insurance companies.

“There was year-end buying from mutual funds," Dipen Shah, head of private client group research at Kotak Securities Ltd.

After gaining nearly 30% in 2014, Indian benchmark indices have been subdued in the calendar year so far and have underperformed markets such as China. For the year to date, the Sensex is up 1.73%, with foreign institutional investors (FIIs) buying a net of $5.8 billion in Indian shares.

Analysts are now awaiting fresh triggers such as an improvement in corporate earnings. “In the absence of any domestic triggers, market will look at global cues and corporate earnings may lead to stock-specific movements in the near term," said Shah of Kotak.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) bimonthly monetary policy review, which is scheduled for 7 April, is also being watched even though most market participants do not expect a further cut in rates just yet.

RBI cut its policy rate by 25 basis points to 7.5% on 4 March in the second reduction this year.

All sectoral indices gained in trading on Monday.

The BSE Capital Goods index was the top sectoral gainer, up 2.82%, followed by the BSE Realty and BSE FMCG indices, which were up 2.19% and 2.11%, respectively.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices posted striking gains and rose 1.93% and 3.4%, respectively.

Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC) contributed the most to the Sensex’s gain, rising 3.59% to 1,307, after The Economic Times reported that HDFC Standard Life, the insurance venture of HDFC, may consider an initial share sale soon.

Top lender State Bank of India rose 1.65% to 267.90, while leading private lender ICICI Bank Ltd advanced 1.26% to 318.35. HDFC Bank Ltd rose 2.29% to 1036.55 while Axis Bank Ltd climbed 3.17% to 563.35.

Shares of top telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd gained 3.55% to 389.55, while state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) rose 3.49% to 314.70. Shares of air carriers gained in anticipation that lower oil prices and the holiday season may boost profitability. Jet Airways (India) Ltd rose 6.07% to 478, while SpiceJet Ltd rose 7.94% to 21.75.

Among the losers, Hindalco Industries Ltd fell 1.61% to 131.40, while Tata Power Co. Ltd fell 0.73% to 74.55. Energy conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd fell below 800 in intra-day trading for the first time since 3 April 2014. The stock recovered some of the early losses and closed 0.17% lower at 810.35.

Reuters contributed to this story.

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Published: 30 Mar 2015, 03:23 PM IST
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