Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Broadly positive global markets, along with attractive stock valuations and a strengthened rupee, lifted the key equity indices on Thursday.
According to market observers, healthy buying was witnessed in banking, IT and Teck (technology, entertainment and media) stocks.
Index-wise, the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,513.85 points -- up 83.50 points or 0.80 per cent from its previous close.
Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) also jumped nearly one per cent. It had opened at 34,404.14 points and closed higher by 318.20 points or 0.93 per cent at 34,663.11 points.
On an intra-day basis, the Sensex touched a high of 34,741.46 points and a low of 34,367.83. The BSE market breadth was, however, slightly tilted towards the bears with 1,391 declines and 1,255 advances.
"Markets rebounded sharply on Thursday after the selloff seen on Wednesday. Sustained buying in the afternoon session by domestic institutions seemed to push the markets higher," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
Jasani said: "Major Asian markets have closed on a mixed note. European indices like CAC 40 and DAX are trading in the green."
Geojit Financial Services Head of Research Vinod Nair said: "Market reversed from day's low despite global trade worries as weak INR gave room for export oriented sectors to surge.
"Further US Fed's softened comment on interest rate trajectory upheld investor's sentiment."
On the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened by eight paise against the US dollar to 68.35, from its previous close at 68.43 per greenback.
Besides, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 701.93 crore, while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 1,480.51 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE banking index surged by 406.92 points, the IT index rose by 324.16 points and the Teck (technology, entertainment and media) ended higher by 161.95 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE auto index fell by 377.80 points, followed by the oil and gas index, which declined by 236.82 points and the consumer durables index that ended lower by 67.88 points.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, up 4.11 per cent at Rs 371.45; Infosys, up 3.09 per cent at Rs 1,221.85; Tata Consultancy Services, up 3.08 per cent at Rs 3,604.80; Axis Bank, up 2.65 per cent at Rs 534.15; and Sun Pharma, up 2.23 per cent at Rs 462.05 per share.
The top losers were Tata Motors, down 6.56 per cent at Rs 288.95; ONGC, down 4.50 per cent at Rs 167.65; Tata Motors (DVR), down 4.40 per cent at Rs 168.30; Bajaj Auto, down 1.41 per cent at Rs 2,736.70; and Maruti Suzuki, down 1.07 per cent at Rs 8,409.80 per share.
In an unrelated development, trade on NSE was temporarily disrupted due to a technical glitch in its web-based tool "NOW".
A spokesperson from the bourse said: "NSE confirms there was no disruption to its trading system today.'NOW' is a shared 'CTCL' (Computer-to-Computer Link) system which had a disruption which has been rectified and the system is now up and running.
"The members had alternate mode connectivity during the disruption and hence trading was not disrupted. The reasons for disruption are being assessed."
