Sensex overcomes six-session fall on short-covering, ends 216 pts higher

Domestic stock markets staged a smart bounce back on Thursday, snapping a straight six-session fall as short-covering in the recently beaten down sectors such as energy, metals, oil & gas and IT stocks fuelled the revival in sentiment, said dealers.

The 30-share BSE S&P Sensex closed the session at 25,252.32, up 216.27 points, or 0.9 percent from previous close. Intra-day, the index rose 254 points on smart bounce-back before trimming some gains at close. Before the today’s relief rally, the Sensex had tumbled more than 1,100 points in last six trading sessions on the back of weak global cues and the commodity rout in international markets.

The broader 50-stock CNX Nifty closed at 7,683.30, up 70.80 points, or nearly a percent higher.

In fact, the domestic equities outperformed their Asian and European peers. Among other Asian counterparts, Nikkei fell 1.3 percent, while China’s Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite eased 0.5 percent on the lingering economic woes. Among the European gauges, FTSE traded 0.3 percent lower while DAX and CAC were marginally up in their mid-day trades.

Traders back home feel nervousness among investors will continue and volatility in the markets would persist given the inability of the government to pass the GST Bill due to challenges on the political front.

Also, investors are keenly eyeing the US Federal Reserve meet on 15 December, which may undertake its first rate hike since 2006. Analysts fear, a further short-term correction could be on the cards in the event of a rate hike, although the broader consensus suggest the proposed US Fed move is more or less priced in.

Market breadth also ended positive with gainers outnumbering losers by over 2:1, with 1,852 stocks advancing against 818 declines on BSE.

Broader indices, too, logged significant gains with BSE small-cap index outperforming benchmark indices, rising 1.2 percent, while BSE mid-cap index gaining 0.9 percent.

Among the gainers in the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries led the upsurge, gaining 3.7 percent to Rs 949.90 on media reports the company is likely to post strong earnings numbers in the December quarter on the back of robust refinery business.

Metal stocks, which witnessed severe hammering in recent sessions tracking weak global commodity markets, clocked strong gains. Shares of Hindalco rose 2.7 percent to Rs 75.75, Tata Steel jumped 2.7 percent to Rs 232.95 and Vedanta was up 1.1 percent at Rs 83.15.

Others such as NTPC, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, Cipla, Gail, Infosys, ITC, HDFC Bank and ONGC were up over 1-2 percent each.