Sensex regains 29,000-mark; Nifty inches closer to 9,000-level

Mumbai: The Sensex reclaimed the 29,000-mark in mid-session trade Thursday on sustained buying by domestic institutions amid robust foreign fund inflows and expiry of derivative contracts.

The 30-share index crossed the 29,000-mark by surging 139.73 points, or 0.48 percent, to trade at 29,004.44 at 1300 hours.

The gauge had rallied by 709.15 points in the previous five sessions on the back of strong foreign fund inflows and sizeable buying by domestic institutional investors.

All the sectoral indices, led by teck, IT, consumer durables, realty, metal and bank, were trading in positive zone with gains of up to 1.86 percent.

On similar lines, the NSE Nifty spurted by 46.30 points, or 0.51 percent, to 8,973.20.

Equity brokers said besides steady buying by domestic institutions and retail investors, covering-up of short positions by speculators with today being the last session of February series expiry in the derivatives segment, buoyed trading sentiment.

Shares of Bharti Airtel zoomed 11 percent in early trade to a one-year high after the telecom operator said it will acquire the business of Telenor India for an undisclosed sum in all seven circles where it holds spectrum.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.37 percent, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.04 percent. Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.30 percent.