Sensex soars 376 pts to end above 26k, but drops 5.8% in Sept quarter

Showing no signs of nervousness through the trading session, key share benchmark indices maintained buoyancy for second straight session as global markets-led recovery fueled massive rally in the recently beaten-down stocks even as banking scrips lost steam after yesterday’s strong show following the RBI’s rate-cut move. Investors showed lot of appetite for the commodity-driven stocks from the metal and oil & gas space, as uptick in Chinese equity indices boosted sentiment back home. Also, the policy rate cut by the central bank and select banks complementing the same by reducing their base rates further prompted investors to lap up realty and housing finance shares on hopes the beleaguered sector would be back in action going ahead. [caption id=“attachment_2450618” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Posting exemplary gains, especially, in the last half-an-hour of trade, the 30-share benchmark Sensex surged 401 points to touch the day’s high of 26,179.70 before wrapping up the session at 26,154.83, up 376.17 points, or 1.5 percent from previous close. The broader 50-stock CNX Nifty also closed firm at 7,948.90, up 105.60 points, or 1.3 percent. Despite the two-day rally, the Sensex extended fall for the second straight quarter and shed 5.8 percent in the current (July-September) quarter, its biggest fall in percentage terms in last 15 quarters after having dropped 6.1 percent in the December 2011 quarter. Similarly, in the first six months (April-September) of the current fiscal, the Sensex declined 6.5 percent, its first half-yearly negative returns in last four years. Market breadth ended upbeat with 1,683 stocks ending in the gainers list while 979 scrips shed ground on BSE. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei jumped 2.7 percent, while China’s Hang Seng gained 1.4 percent and Shanghai Composite was up 0.5 percent at close. Key European gauges also followed suit and were up over 2-2.5 percent in mid-day trades. Among the major gainers in the Sensex space, shares of Tata Steel shot up 5.2 percent to Rs 211.90, Bharti Airtel jumped 4.5 percent to Rs 338, BHEL flared up 4.2 percent to Rs 205.55, Gail moved up 3.9 percent to Rs 302.10, Coal India added 3.8 percent to Rs 326.50 and Hindustan Unilever was up 3.7 percent at Rs 814.65. Others such as Hindalco gained 3.6 percent to Rs 70.65, Infosys rose 3.5 percent to Rs 1,160.45, Tata Motors scaled up 3.4 percent to Rs 298.45 and HeroMoto Corp was up 2.7 percent at Rs 2,395.65. ITC, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto, NTPC and Sun Pharma were up over 2 percent each. Housing Finance companies, too, hogged limelight in today’s broad-based rally. Shares of LIC Housing Finance surged 4.4 percent to Rs 470.20 and Dewan Housing Finance Corp rose 2.3 percent to Rs 220.05. However, banking stocks ended weak in a firm market as lingering worries over higher NPAs and concerns that rate cut amongst lenders would hurt their margins led to trimming of their exposure to the sector. Shares of SBI dropped nearly 2 percent to Rs 237.25, Bank of Baroda fell 1.9 percent to Rs 183.30, Axis Bank declined 1.7 percent to Rs 495.55, PNB eased 1.4 percent to Rs 133.45 and YES Bank was down 1.2 percent at Rs 729.60.