Monsoon forecast cheers market; Sensex zooms over 400 points, Nifty breaches 7,800-level

Zee Media Bureau

The benchmark BSE Sensex zoomed over 400 points and the broader NSE Nifty reclaimed the 7,800-mark in pre-noon trade Wednesday on the back of positive macroeconomic data and forecast of good monsoon.

Besides, a firming trend in other Asian markets, tracking rallies in the US and Europe as oil prices pushed up to 2016 highs on reports of an Russia-Saudi Arabia agreement to freeze output, buoyed sentiment.

The 30-share barometer spurted 372.19 points or 1.48 percent to 25,517.78 after moving in range of 25,547.06 - 25,358.42 with all the sectoral indices, led by banking, auto and infrastructure, rising up to 2 percent.

The gauge had gained 471.75 points in previous two days. The NSE index Nifty recaptured the 7,800-level by climbing 112.35 points or 1.46 percent to 7,821.30.

On Tuesday, predictions on monsoon came during the trading hours.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that after two straight years of drought, India is likely to be showered with above-normal rains during the upcoming monsoon season, with a probability of more than 94 percent precipitation.

Then, after the closing bell, came the twin dose of positive news from the Central Statistics Office that India's factory output for February logged a growth of 2 percent after three straight months of decline, and annual retail inflation fell to 4.83 percent in March from 5.26 percent in February.

On Wednesday, most Asian-Pacific markets were also trading in the green, with sentiments buoyed by the rise in oil prices that had, in turn, helped US stocks to rise.

Australia's ASX 200, Japan's Nikkei, Taiwan's Taiex, Hong Kong's Hang Seng were all trading higher.

The markets in South Korea and Thailand were closed.

In an analysis ahead of the opening bell in India, Angel Broking said: "US stocks posted solid gains on Tuesday after initially showing lack of direction. The strength was primarily led by energy stocks which gained on reports of Saudi Arabia and Russia working toward an agreement to cut production."

The brokerage said the European stocks also rose and closed mostly higher on Tuesday at the end of a choppy session, helped by gains in energy and mining stocks, even as Indian shares ended on a strong note for the second consecutive session.

With Agency Inputs