Lower oil prices lift equities; Sensex up 390 pts

Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS) Lower crude oil prices and ease in US-China trade tensions, coupled with expectations of a demand revival during the festive season, led to a sharp rise in the Indian equity markets on Thursday.

Both the key indices -- the S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty50 -- gained over 1 per cent. On sector-specific basis, the day's gains were led by auto, banking and metals stocks.

Index-wise, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 38,989.74, higher by 396.22 points, or 1.03 per cent, from its previous close of 38,593.52 points. It touched an intra-day high of 39,158.07 and a low of 38,676.11 points.

Similarly, the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) made healthy gains. It ended the day's trade at 11,571.20, higher by 131 points, or 1.15 per cent, than its previous close.

On the broader market level, the BSE midcap and smallcap indexes underperformed the Sensex and Nifty. However, the market breadth was positive on both the key indices.

"The gains came on the back of easing crude oil prices, positive news on the US-China trade war front and positive domestic economic data," said Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, at HDFC Securities.

"Technically, with the Nifty rallying after the sell-off seen in the previous session, the underlying trend continues to remain up. Further upsides are likely once the immediate resistance of 11,610 is taken out," Jasani said, adding that the crucial support to watch for further weakness is at 11,469.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: "Yesterday's global selling was based on US political drama which reversed today, while Indian market recovered from profit booking from the sharp gain."

Momentum was broad based with auto, banks and metals leading the gains on expectations of better demand during the upcoming festive season, and this positive trend is likely to be maintained in combination with ease in trade war and domestic stimulus, Nair said.