Mumbai, May 07: Strong world markets and easing
concerns about the health of global economy on Thursday drove the benchmark Sensex higher by 164 points on aggressive buying by funds.
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex, which
remained weak in the last two trading sessions, bounced back
to record a gain of 164.19, or 1.37 per cent, to 12,116.94 as
stocks led by metals and realty rose significantly.
Similarly, the 50-share National Stock Exchange index
Nifty shot up by 58.85 points at 3,683.90, after touching the
day's high of 3,692.05 points.
Trading sentiment turned bullish after European and
Asian stocks rose, sending the MSCI World Index higher for a
seventh day on speculation that banks do not need as much
capital as had been projected.
Banking and interest rate-sensitive shares surged
following an assurance from US Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner that none of the country’s biggest banks is
insolvent.
A steep fall in the last two days also attracted buying
by fundamentally strong stocks. The benchmark had dropped 1.5
per cent yesterday after shares had jumped more than 10 per
cent with investors turning cautious ahead of the Lok Sabha
election results next week.
The major push to the surging stock market came from
blue-chip stocks like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank,
Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki
and Wipro. Together these seven shares carry nearly 35 per
cent weight in the Sensex.
The metal sector index gained the most, rising 8.22 per
cent to 8,155.058 as leading copper manufacturer and
heavyweight Sterlite Industries was significantly high by
13.78 per cent to Rs 517.45 and Hindustan Zinc by 14.77 per
cent to Rs 506.
Base metals climbed to the highest level in three weeks
in Asia on speculation that global recession may ease.
The consumer durables index was the second-best
performer, rising 3.72 per cent to Rs 1,912.33, followed by
realty, which was up 1.90 per cent to 2,382.51.
The banking index rose 1.85 per cent to 6,206.46,
healthcare 1.74 per cent to 3,154.89 and capital goods 1.55
per cent to 8,496.01.
The oil and gas index rose 1.50 per cent to 8,534.09,
PSU 1.26 per cent to 6,138.99, auto 1.23 per cent to 3,680.71,
teck 1.16 per cent to 2,270.44, power 0.29 per cent to
2,214.49 and IT 0.06 per cent to 2,785.25.
However, the FMCG index fell 0.71 per cent to 2,103.50 as
the heavyweight ITC Ltd fell Rs 2.40 at Rs 1,89.90.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, May 07, 2009, 00:00