Sensex gains 41 points in fifth day of rise, eyes glued on Greece

Mumbai: After surging over 200 points in early trade, the benchmark Sensex pared some gains on caution ahead of crucial Greek debt talks and ended with a slender 41-point rise at two-week high of 29,135.88 today. Expectations of pro-growth Budget and hopes of more interest rate cuts supported markets, brokers said.[caption id=“attachment_2056209” align=“alignleft” width=“580”]  Bombay Stock Exchange. Reuters[/caption] Globally, all eyes are Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Monday meeting his counterparts from the Eurozone in Brussels to seek their backing for an overhaul of the austerity-laden bailout. Global markets are hoping a deal can be reached before the end of the month, when Greece’s bailout is due to expire. Failure to agree an extension would see it default on its giant debts and likely mean it would crash out of Eurozone. The 30-share Sensex hit a session high of 29,325.35 in the first half but succumbed to profit-booking at fag-end and slipped into the negative zone as it hit a low of 29,083.40. However, gains in FMCG, auto and power shares helped the index settle with a rise of 40.95 points, or 0.14 percent, at 29,135.88. The gauge has now gathered over 908 points in the five straight sessions. Also, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty edged up by 3.85 points, or 0.04 percent, to end at 8,809.35. Intra-day, it shuttled between 8,793.40 and 8,870.10. During the day, government data showed Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation for January declined to a five and a half year low of (-) 0.39 percent. Stocks of FMCG major ITC Ltd gained the most among Sensex constituents by rising 3.11 percent. Its peer, Hindustan Unilever also notched up a rise of 1.62 percent. Others which supported the indices to close in positive zone included TCS, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Ltd, Cipla, Dr Reddy, GAIL, HDFC Bank, M&M, NTPC, ONGC, Tata Steel and Tata Motors. Sun Pharma, however, suffered the most by falling 2.65 percent after company reported a 6.92 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit for the third quarter ended December. Sectorally, the BSE FMCG index gained the most by surging 1.79 percent, Realty gained 0.97 percent, Power by 0.61 percent, Auto by 0.45 percent, Capital Goods by 0.18 percent and IT by 0.17 percent. Markets are closed tomorrow on account of Mahashivratri. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan. Singapore and South Korea were up by 0.03 percent to 0.58 percent. In Europe, benchmark indices in UK and Germany were down by 0.10 percent to 0.16 percent while France’s CAC was quoting up by 0.08 percent. As many as sixteen scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended higher while the remaining 14 finished lower. Major gainers include ITC 3.04 percent, TCS 1.84 percent, HUL 1.62 percent, HDFC 1.55 percent, Bharti Airtel 1.53 percent, Tata Motors 1.47 percent, M&M 1.33 percent and Tata Steel 0.93 percent. However, Sun Pharma fell by 2.65 percent, Hindalco 1.73 percent, Axis Bank 1.73 percent, ICICI Bank 1.66 percent, Hero MotoCorp 1.62 percent, Reliance Industries 1.59 percent and Maruti Suzuki 1.07 percent. Shares of power generation companies were mostly higher. Suzlon Energy surged after the company signed definitive agreements with Dilip Shanghvi Family and Associates for equity investments of Rs 1,800 crore in the company. Among the S&P sectoral indices, FMCG rose by 1.79 percent, Realty 0.97 percent, Power 0.61 percent, Auto 0.45 percent and Tech 0.37 percent while Oil and Gas dropped by 0.99 percent, Consumer Durable by 0.98 percent, Bankex by 0.92 percent and Healthcare by 0.87 percent. The total market breadth turned negative as 1,595 stocks in red, 1,315 finished in green while 102 ruled steady. The total turnover dropped to Rs 3,550.43 crore from Rs 4,038.18 crore on last Friday. PTI