Sensex rises 300 points, reclaims 35,000-mark on earnings optimism, rupee recovery; Nifty up 72 points

Mumbai: The equity benchmark Sensex continued its winning run for the third straight session on Tuesday, rising 297 points to scale the key 35,000-level on positive macro signs like strengthening rupee and healthy start to the corporate earning season. Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened by 25 paise to 73.58 (intra-day) against the US dollar in the forex market. Besides, easing global crude prices and positive cues from Asian markets and a higher opening in European shares too fuelled the rally. Brent was trading 0.25 percent lower at $80.58 a barrel on Tuesday. “Market maintained a positive momentum as healthy start to the earnings season and gaining strength in rupee supported the sentiment. Though rally was broad based, financials led from the front… Earnings season will dictate the trend in the market as investors are gradually shifting their focus from global volatility to domestic triggers,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said. [caption id=“attachment_5339631” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The 30-share Sensex stayed in the positive zone during the session and shuttled between 35,215.79 and 34,913.06, before settling 297.38 points or 0.85 percent higher at 35,162.48. The NSE Nifty after regaining the 10,600-mark hit a high of 10,604.90 on the back of widespread gains, and finally concluded 72.25 points or 0.69 percent higher at 10,584.75. “The Nifty was higher today again supported by mid- and small-cap stocks. The broader indices gained more ground than the Nifty. Banking stocks were mixed with PSU Banks taking the lead. Global cues were also mixed where US markets were down but most other markets appear to have stabilised,” Rohit Srivastava, Fund Manager – PMS, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas said. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 294.78 crore, while foreign institutional investors invested Rs 67.86 crore on Monday, as per provisional data issued by the stock exchanges. Brokers said after a recent meltdown in line with global rout, domestic markets are back on track ahead corporate results. Shares of the country’s second largest IT company, Infosys fell 0.39 percent after cautious investors trimmed their positions ahead of July-September quarter earnings. The sentiment got support from other Asian markets which rose modestly after a week of heavy losses, although cooling factory-gate inflation in China and increasing tensions between Saudi Arabia and the West have capped gains. The broader markets depicted a firm trend as investors raised bets on hopes of encouraging earnings, lifting the small-cap index by 1.88 percent and mid-cap index by 1.03 percent. Buying was led by oil&gas, infrastructure, banks, PSU, capital goods, realty, auto and healthcare space counters. M&M emerged as the top gainer among Sensex constituents by rising 3.97, followed by Adani Ports at 3.54 percent. Other major gainers were ONGC, SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, RIL, Asian Paint, HUL, HDFC Ltd, Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, Vedanta Ltd, Tata Motors, TCS, L&T, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Coal India and ITC Ltd, gaining up to 3.44 percent. Hero MotoCorp edged up 0.23 percent ahead of quarterly results, due later in the day. However, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, PowerGrid, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, NTPC and Maruti Suizuki, fell up to 0.77 percent on profit-booking. Shares of oil marketing companies such as BPCL and IOC remained strong, rising up to 2.06 percent on falling global crude oil prices. Among the sectoral indices, oil&gas emerged best performer by climbing 1.84 percent followed by infrastructure 1.79 percent, realty 1.36 percent, PSU 1.28 percent, capital goods 1.28 percent, bankex 1.20 percent, FMCG 0.77 percent, power 0.75 percent, auto 0.70 percent, healthcare 066 percent, IT 0.46 percent, consumer durables 0.43 percent, teck 0.38 percent and metal 0.21 percent. Coming to the global markets, most of the Asian stocks gained with Japan’s Nikkei surging 1.25 percent, while Taiwan rose 0.81 percent. Indonesia up 0.45 percent and Thailand surged 0.12 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index, however, fell 0.85 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.13 percent. European markets too were higher in their late morning deals with Frankfurt’s DAX rising 0.348 percent, while Paris CAC 40 up 0.28 percent. London’s FTSE was too up 0.01 percent.