Sensex surges over 400 points on short-covering, inches close to 28,000-mark

Domestic equity markets maintained their upward stance after a firm opening, as benchmark Sensex advanced further to edge closer towards the 28,000-mark amid short-covering following a recent slump even as local currency rupee staged a smart pull-back to trade at 65.13 against the dollar after sliding to a low of 65.34 in early trade.

Racing ahead on the back of positive cues from other indices in the Asian pack, the Sensex rallied sharply to touch a high of 27,959.33, up 409 points. At 12.05 pm, 30-share BSE S&P Sensex was at 27,921.13, up 371.60 points, or 1.3 percent higher. The broader 50-share CNX Nifty was quoted at 8,470.05, up 114.20 points, or 1.4 percent.

Prior to yesterday’s recovery, the Sensex had plunged nearly 800 points in four straight sessions.

Market breadth was upbeat with 1,552 stocks advancing against 857 declines on BSE.

Chinese markets traded firm with both Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite logging gains even as Japan’s Nikkei exhibited weakness.

Among the Sensex constituents, shares of Vedanta emerged top gainer, advancing 4.2 percent to Rs 107.65, Sun Pharma rose 3.4 percent to Rs 909.35, Bajaj Auto moved up 2.7 percent to Rs 2,557, HDFC gained 2.1 percent to Rs 1,283.85 and Reliance Industries was up 2.1 percent at Rs 954.60.

Other gainers such as TCS, SBI, Hindalco, M&M, BHEL and HDFC Bank were up around 1-2 percent each.

Realty shares, after witnessing a steep fall in last few sessions, bounced back sharply on short-covering by investors. Shares of DLF shot up 8.4 percent to Rs 123.60, HDIL flared up 5.3 percent to Rs 80, NBCC jumped 4 percent to Rs 1,033 and DB Realty was up 3.1 percent at Rs 59.75.

The broader market, too, showed lot of optimism with significant buying interest in mid-cap shares lifting the BSE Mid-cap index up by 1.7 percent to 11,385.76.

Among the gainers in the second-rung space, Glenmark Pharma surged nearly 6 percent to Rs 1,121.05, JP Power rose 5.3 percent to Rs 7, Torrent Power advanced 4.3 percent to Rs 173 and Bharat Forge was up 4.1 percent at Rs 1,208.80.