Healthy buying in index heavyweights lifts Indian equities

Mumbai, Aug 16 (IANS) The key Indian equity indices on Wednesday continued with their second consecutive session of gains to close on a higher note as healthy buying was witnessed in index heavyweights such as ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors and Hindustan Unilever (HUL), among others.

Besides, broadly positive global cues, coupled with intense buying activities in automobile, banking and FMCG stocks, lifted investors' sentiments.

The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which reclaimed the psychologically important 9,900-level intra-day by touching a high of 9,903.95 points, closed higher by 103.15 points or 1.05 per cent at 9,897.30 points.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, closed at 31,770.89 points -- up 321.86 points, or 1.02 per cent, from its previous close at 31,449.03 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 31,805.99 points and a low of 31,399.35 points during the intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,635 advances and 949 declines.

The broader market indices outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE mid-cap index rose by 1.26 per cent and the small-cap index by 1.31 per cent.

"Markets rallied sharply higher on Wednesday after a weak opening to close with gains for the second consecutive session. Today's gains were led by ITC, HDFC and HDFC Bank," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"Major Asian markets have ended on a mixed note. European indices like FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 traded higher."

On the currency front, the rupee weakened by 3-4 paise to 64.15-16 to a US dollar from its Monday's close at 64.12.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold scrips worth Rs 1,090.10 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased stocks worth Rs 1,336.91 crore.

"Caution prevailed as a faster-than-expected rise in consumer price inflation in July reduced the chances of another interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India, which cut its main policy rate early this month by 25 basis points to 6 per cent, the lowest since November 2010," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.

"Investors also awaited minutes of the US Federal Reserve's July meeting, which are due later in the session and should show how the debate on rate hikes is shifting within the central bank."

Desai pointed out that consumer stocks gained as the Nifty FMCG index rose nearly 2 per cent in its biggest intra-day percentage gain in over a month, recovering from recent losses sparked by worries about the impact from India's new goods and services tax.

All the sub-indices on the BSE ended in the green, barring the capital goods index, which fell by 21.86 points, and the utilities index by 1.08 points.

The S&P BSE automobile index augmented by 382.09 points, followed by the banking index by 343.97 points, and the FMCG index by 243.80 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: Tata Motors, up 3.57 per cent at Rs 389.05; Cipla, up 3.54 per cent at Rs 590.20; ITC, up 3.01 per cent at Rs 279.30; HUL, up 3 per cent at Rs 1,186.95; and Sun Pharma, up 2.69 per cent at Rs 485.20.

Major Sensex losers were: NTPC, down 1.05 per cent at Rs 170.10; Asian Paints, down 1.01 per cent at Rs 1,142.40; Power Grid, down 0.81 per cent at Rs 220.65; Coal India, down 0.67 per cent at Rs 237.05; and Lupin, down 0.56 per cent at Rs 962.20.