Sensex ends 151 points higher; sugar stocks spurt on likely export permit

A day after domestic equity markets snapped its four session gains, key benchmark indices recouped their lost ground today, as firm Asian & European share markets aided sentiment back home even as investors also cheered the service sector data that rebounded after two months of contraction, said dealers. [caption id=“attachment_2380228” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE S&P Sensex ended the session at 28,223.08, up 151.15 points, or 0.5 percent from previous close. Earlier in the day, the index gained 244 points to touch the day’s high of 28,315.71 before trimming some gains towards the closing stages on select profit-taking. The broader 50-share CNX Nifty closed at 8,567.95, up 51.05 points, or 0.6 percent. Market breadth ended positive with 1,791 stocks advancing against 1,161 declines on BSE. Among the other Asian peers, Nikkei and Hang Seng indices ended with gains of 0.4 percent each, while key European indices were up a percent each in intra-day trade. In the domestic market, India’s service sector output increased for the first time in six months in July. The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.7 in July from 51.3 in June, logging a six-month high, indicating improvement in manufacturing business conditions of the country. Gains in IT, FMCG, healthcare and realty shares led the upmove in the market. Among the gainers in the Sensex pack, Wipro rose nearly 3 percent to Rs 574.60, Infosys added 2.5 percent to Rs 1,086.55, Bajaj Auto moved up 2.4 percent to Rs 2,569.70, Tata Steel gained 2.3 percent to Rs 262.25 and Lupin was up 2.1 percent at Rs 1,678. Others such as M&M, HeroMoto Corp, Sun Pharma, Cipla, TCS, ONGC and NTPC were up 1-2.1 percent each. Shares of sugar companies outperformed the market attracting significant buying interest amongst investors on a report that the government could make it mandatory for sugar firms to export millions of tonnes of surplus sugar to support local prices, a Reuters report said. Following the report, shares of Dwarikesh Sugar Industries zoomed 16.7 percent to Rs 32.80, Simbhaoli Sugars vaulted 10.5 percent to Rs 11.16, Bajaj Hindusthan Sugars scaled up 7.6 percent to Rs 15.48, Bannari Amman Sugars rose 7.2 percent to Rs 831, Shree Renuka Sugars jumped 6.8 percent to Rs 9.43, Ugar Sugar Works moved up 4.8 percent to Rs 8.3 and Dhampur Sugar Mills was up 3.8 percent at Rs 34. In the realty space, shares of NBCC shot up 12.3 percent to Rs 1,184.50, DLF scaled up 6 percent to Rs 122, DB Realty soared 4.8 percent to Rs 68.30, Unitech gained 4.8 percent to Rs 7.84 and IndiaBulls Real Estate was up 4.6 percent at Rs 67.55. However, banking shares eased on profit-taking, after clocking significant gains in the last one week or so. Shares of Canara Bank fell 1.9 percent to Rs 303.55 after posting disappointing first quarter numbers with a 40.7 percent drop in net profit at Rs 478.84 crore on the back of higher provisioning. Bank of Baroda eased 1.1 percent to Rs 188.85, YES Bank fell 1.1 percent to Rs 830.50 and SBI was down a percent at Rs 285.35.