Mumbai, June 20 (IANS) Domestic cues, such as attractive valuations coupled with expectations of better credit flow from the banking sector, lifted the key Indian equity indices on Wednesday after two consecutive sessions of losses.
Besides, positive global markets and an appreciation in the Indian rupee supported the indices northward movement. Healthy buying was witnessed in the banking, metal and auto counters.
Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,772.05 points, up 61.60 points or 0.58 per cent from the previous close of 10,710.45 points.
Similarly, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex, which had opened at 35,329.61 points closed in the green. It closed at 35,547.33 points -- up 260.59 points or 0.74 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 35,286.74 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 35,571.37 points and a low of 35,329.51 points. The market breadth was largely even with 1,317 advances and 1,311 declines.
"In line with global cues, benchmark indices in Indian opened the day in the green and traded with strength, through the day," said Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager for Equities at BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
"Recovery in global stocks boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses while bargain hunting at lower levels provided some stability to markets."
According to HDFC Securities' Head of Retail Research, Deepak Jasani, major Asian markets closed on a positive note and European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX traded in the green.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee appreciated by 31 paise against the US dollar to 68.08, from its previous close of 68.39 per greenback.
However, investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrip worth Rs 2,442.61 crore while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 1,473.65 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE banking index gained the most, by 306.81 points, followed by the metal index which rose by 140.71 points and the auto index, which ended higher by 111.78 points.
On the other hand, S&P BSE capital index fell by 50 points, the FMCG index was down 40.59 points and the oil and gas index ended lower by 39.27 points.
Stock-wise, the major gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries, up 2.44 per cent at Rs 1,019.95; Vedanta, up 2.10 per cent at Rs 228.75; IndusInd Bank, up 1.93 per cent at Rs 1,967.45; Yes Bank, up 1.66 per cent at Rs 335.90; and Kotak Mahindra Bank, up 1.58 per cent at Rs 1,327.75 per share.
The top losers were ONGC, down 1.24 per cent at Rs 162.80; Coal India, down 0.92 per cent at Rs 270.60; ITC, down 0.90 per cent at Rs 263.75, Wipro, down 0.71 per cent at Rs 259.80; and Larsen and Toubro, down 0.54 per cent at Rs 1,307.05 per share.
