Investor wealth grew by a whopping Rs 1.30 lakh crore today to Rs 58.64 lakh crore as six out of 10 stocks gained on the domestic bourses today, extending a three-day upsurge. Led by banks, infra and automobile stocks on hopes that the Reserve Bank will further cut interest rates later this month, Sensex opened at 16,100.36 with a gain of 80 points. As the day progressed, investors took cues from the Asian markets which were up 1-2 per cent. In the afternoon session, the signals from the European markets were also positive with gains upto 3 per cent, fuelling the rally on both BSE and NSE.
After touching the day`s high of 16,494.50, Sensex finally closed at 16,454.30, up 433.66 points or 2.71 per cent, the best daily gain in percentage terms since January 3. In terms of points, Sensex today clocked its highest gains in 2012 as it gained 421.44 points on January 3. "Rising hope of policy rate cut by RBI, expected positive outcome from upcoming ECB (European Central Bank) meet cheered domestic stocks today," said Sharmila Joshi, Head Equity, Fairwealth Securities.
All the 30 Sensex stocks ended higher with gains led by Tata Motors, L&T), Jindal Steel, Hero MotorCorp and Sterlite Industries that were up between 4-5.7 per cent. The 50-share NSE Nifty shot up by 133.80 points or 2.75 per cent to 4,997.10, after testing the key 5,000 level. With foreign inflows returning into Indian stocks, rupee further stabilised against the dollar and was last trading at 55.36 compared to yesterday`s close of 55.64.
Allaying concerns over policy inaction, the government has recently taken some decisive measures to boost exports and rein in fiscal deficit through austerity measures. Globally, European stocks were trading higher in their early trade as key indices in France, Germany and London shot up by upto 2.07 per cent. US stocks index futures too indicated firm opening today.
"Sentiments improved globally on hopes of ECB unveiling additional long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) to improve the Eurozone situation at its meet later today," said Shanu Goel, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio. The stimulus expectations also drive Asian markets where key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore rose by between 0.80 per cent and 1.81 per cent.
Back home in Sensex, Tata Motors was the top gainer by rising 5.71 per cent, followed by L&T (4.77 pc), Jindal Steel (4.63 pc), Hero MotoCorp (4.29 pc), Sterlite (4.06 pc), NTPC 3.84 (pc), SBI (3.81 pc), ITC (3.68 pc) and HDFC Bank (3.50 pc). Others like Bharti Airtel (3.38 pc), Bajaj Auto (3.33 pc), M&M (3.20 pc), HUL (2.95 pc), ONGC (2.90 pc), Hindalco (2.86 pc) and Tata Steel (2.80 pc) also clocked smart gains.
Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-Auto rose by 3.86 per cent, followed by the BSE-Capital Goods (3.63 pc), the BSE-Power (3.49 pc), the BSE-Bankex (3.01 pc), the BSE-FMCG (2.95 pc), the BSE-Metal (2.92 pc), the BSE-Realty (2.65 pc) and the BSE-PSU (2.30 pc). Mid-cap and Small-cap indices also ended higher by 1.78 per cent and 1.48 per cent respectively on good buying from retail investors.
The market breadth continued to show positive trend as 1,849 shares finished with gains while 894 ended with losses. The total turnover shot up to Rs 2,060.29 crore from Rs 1,819.59 crore on Tuesday. Foreign institutional investors were the net sellers to the tune of Rs 680.86 crore on Tuesday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.