Sensex off to flying start, reclaims 27,000 in a 300 points rally

Equity markets were off to a splendid start, helping Sensex breeze past the 27,000-mark in an over 300 points rally after the US Fed minute of the latest meeting revealed last night once again hinted the imminent rate hike may not happen soon in the wake of a weak global economic outlook.

Mirroring overnight gains in the US markets, stocks across other Asian countries, too, flared up in morning trade as the cloud over rate hike in the world’s largest economy seem to be fading, giving investors more room to increase equity play, said equity dealers.

Shrugging off the weak market close a day before, the benchmark Sensex made a firm start and shot up 325 points to touch a high of 27,171.19. At 10.10 am, the 30-share BSE S&P Sensex was at 27,150.99, up 305.18 points, or 1.1 percent from the previous close. The broader 50-stock CNX Nifty was at 8,214.85, up 85.50 points, or 1 percent.

Market breadth was firm as 1,413 stocks advanced against 416 declines on the BSE.

Other Asian indices such as Nikkei rose 1 percent, while China’s Hang Seng jumped 1.8 percent and Shanghai Composite was up 0.7 percent adding fizz to the global markets rally.

With commodity stocks in the US looking up, domestic metals stocks, too, were in strong demand in early trade. Among the gainers, Vedanta soared 7.2 percent to Rs 99.50, Hindalco rose 3.2 percent to Rs 84.70 and Tata Steel was up 2.5 percent at Rs 246.50.

Banking stocks also were in the limelight with ICICI Bank gaining 2.6 percent to Rs 285.60, SBI rising 1.7 percent to Rs 247.45 and Axis Bank moving up 1.1 percent to Rs 496.95.

Other Sensex constituents such as ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s, Infosys, L&T, Tata Motors, HeroMoto Corp, Gail, Reliance Industries and ITC were up over 1-2 percent each.