Mumbai: Stocks ended 2014 on a cheerful note with the Sensex Wednesday rising nearly 96 points to 27,499.42 and the Nifty climbing over 34 points to 8,282.70, helping the Indian markets notch up their best annual gain in five years.
The new government's reform initiatives, robust foreign fund flows and a wave of optimism over growth prospects pushed up share values in 2014, making investors richer by a whopping Rs 28 lakh crore.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today rallied for the fourth sraight session to end at almost one-week highs. The market saw mostly across-the-board buying as 11 out of 12 sectoral indices closed with gains. Power, realty, consumer durables, pharma and oil & gas shares good activity.
However, the BSE Auto index closed in the red on selling in some stocks as excise duty incentives for the sector would not be extended beyond December 31.
The 30-share Sensex resumed today a tad lower but recovered immediately. It remained in positive terrain throughout the session to settle at 27,499.42, a rise of 95.88 points or 0.35 percent. In straight four sessions, it has spurted by 290.81 points or 1.07 percent.
For the year as a whole, the Sensex registered 6,328.74 points or 29.89 percent -- its best gain since 2009.
"Our market remains the hot investment option. And this growth is expected to continue as cyclical, rate-sensitive and investment-oriented stocks find flavour with investors," said Kamlesh Rao, CEO, Kotak Securities.
Meanwhile, the broader 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE advanced by 34.45 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 8,282.70.
The CNX Nifty has spurted by 1,978.70 points, or 31.39 percent, during 2014 calender year.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 277.92 crore yesterday, as per provisional data with stock exchanges.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "Local equity market traded positive most of the day with the help of bluechips. We have seen the almost 31 percent rally in Nifty this year, posting its best gain since 2009 in a year marked by a series of record highs."
Asian markets, in thin trade following Christmas holidays, closed better. Key indices from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan closed up while the index from Singapore ended almost stable. Japan and South Korea markets were closed today.
European markets were also trading better in their late morning deals. The CAC was up by 0.46 percent and the FTSE by 0.22 percent. The German market was closed today.
Overall, 22 counters out of 30-share sensex pack settled in the green. Major gainers include BHEL 2.65 percent, Dr Reddy's lab 2.02 percent, NTPC 1.69 percent, RIL 1.20 percent, Hindalco 0.93 percent, Bharti Airtel 0.92 percent and TCS 0.92 percent.
Among laggards, M&M declined by 1.85 percent, Bajaj Auto 0.66 percent and Maruti Suzuki 0.63 percent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Power firmed up by 1.02 percent, Realty 1.01 percent, Consumer Durables 0.93 percent, Healthcare 0.72 percent and Oil&Gas 0.70 percent while Auto index eased by 0.28 percent.
Reflecting rally in second-line stocks, the total market breadth remained positive as 1,692 stocks concluded with gains while 1,177 that ended with losses and 123 remained stable.
The total turnover was better at almost at Rs 2,459 crore from Rs 2,243.21 crore yesterday.
