Sensex back in 27,000-club as metals, oil shares aid rally for sixth straight session

Equity markets persisted with gains for the sixth straight session mainly in accordance with the rise in other global equity market peers, while benchmark Sensex finally pierced the 27,000-mark as investors bought into commodity-related stocks tracking uptick in base metal prices. The session mostly exhibited a range-bound trend with a positive bias, as the Sensex managed to appreciate by just 149 points intra-day to touch a high of 27,082.28. After having rallied more than 1,300 points in last five sessions, markets showed signs of nervousness as the index twice slipped into the red and touched the day’s low of 26,877.51, down 55 points. [caption id=“attachment_2459158” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] However, the Sensex soon clawed back into positive territory to eventually end above the 27,000-level at 27,035.85, up 102.97 points, or 0.4 percent from previous close. The index last close above the psychological level on 21 August. The broader 50-stock CNX Nifty ended at 8,177.40, up 24.50 points, or 0.3 percent. Market breadth ended on a positive note with 1,691 stocks advancing against 1,061 declines on BSE. Globally, other key Asian indices such as China’s Hang Seng surged 3.1 percent while Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 percent while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.7 percent at close. Key European indices, too, were up over 0.5-1 percent in mid-day trade. Metal stocks were in limelight as prices of select base metals rose Rs 8 per kg at the non-ferrous metal market, according to a PTI report. Traders said firming trend in base metals at the London Metal Exchange (LME) as speculation that the Federal Reserve will keep US interest rates near zero for longer boosted the appeal of riskier assets such as commodities, influenced sentiments here, the report added. As a result, shares of Hindalco vaulted nearly 10 percent to Rs 81.90, Vedanta shot up 5.8 percent to Rs 90.70, Tata Steel scaled up 4.2 percent to Rs 236.80, Sail advanced 4.1 percent to Rs 55.05 and Hindustan Zinc was up 3.2 percent at Rs 147.70. Oil & gas stocks, too, edged higher trending in line with uptick in international oil prices. Shares of Cairn India rose 5.3 percent to Rs 167.25, ONGC moved up 4 percent to Rs 256.90, Oil India gained 2.6 percent to Rs 456.25, Reliance Industries added 2 percent to Rs 913.85 and Petronet LNG was up 1.8 percent at Rs 184.75. However, IT shares continued their downward spiral ahead of next week’s earnings offtake, as investors cut their exposure fearing any adverse results announcement. Shares of HCL Tech once again faced the selling pressure, ending 4.2 percent lower at Rs 816.95. Among frontline IT peers, Infosys fell 1.9 percent to Rs 1,133.15, Wipro dropped 1.8 percent to Rs 589.10 and TCS shed 1.5 percent to Rs 2,655.10.