Muristek
Mumbai, February 9
Market benchmarks marched higher for the second straight session on Wednesday, mirroring a sharp rebound in global equities amid signs of easing geopolitical tensions.
However, a depreciating rupee and continued selling by foreign investors capped the gains, traders said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 657.39 points or 1.14 per cent to finish at 58,465.97. Likewise, the NSE Nifty jumped 197.05 points or 1.14 per cent to 17,463.80.
Maruti was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 4.14 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, HCL Tech, Wipro, and Bharti Airtel.
Only three counters closed in the red—Sun Pharma, ITC and PowerGrid, dipping up to 0.72 per cent.
"The domestic market joined the global rally with all major sectors barring PSU Banks trading with gains. US stocks rallied yesterday shrugging off concerns over rising crude oil and rate hike worries ahead of the release of US inflation data.
"RBI's policy announcement will be the key focus tomorrow as domestic inflation and policy tightening by global central banks would pressurise the central bank to adopt a similar stance," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, "Advance decline ratio has turned positive. Nifty has commenced its journey up ahead of the RBI MPC meet outcome on Thursday." "Seeming cooling off of Russia-Ukraine tussle and reversal in oil prices have helped sentiments turn up across the globe. In case the RBI raises repo rate (and not reverse repo rate) the markets could take it negatively," he noted.
Barring oil amp; gas, all BSE sectoral indices finished higher. Auto climbed 2.18 per cent, followed by consumer durables, metal, finance, bankex and industrials.
The BSE midcap and smallcap indices spurted as much as 1.23 per cent.
World stocks darted up as investors took heart from upbeat corporate results and signs of easing tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai ended in the positive territory.
Stock exchanges in Europe were trading with significant gains in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude slipped 0.27 per cent to USD 90.73 per barrel after the US and Iran resumed nuclear deal talks, which could see Iranian oil exports return to the global market.
The rupee declined by 7 paise to close at 74.81 against the US dollar on Wednesday.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,967.89 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.