Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex Thursday snapped a three-day losing trend as it rebounded by 120 points and Nifty firmed up by about 27 points after touching new life-high on strong buying mainly in FMCG and banking shares, amid strong overseas cues on talk of global monetary stimulus.
Shares of ITC, which carries the biggest weight in 30-share Sensex, rose by 5.44 percent on hopes that a proposal to ban sale of loose cigarettes will be put on hold.
The rise in ITC scrips neutralised the effect of the fall in bluechips like Infosys, RIL, L&T, Bharti Airtel, M&M and Hindalco, traders said, adding that rise in HDFC Bank, HDFC, SBI, Cipla and Sesa Sterlite helped the Sensex cement gains.
"Focus is on ECB policy meet....ITC lifted the index on anticipation government will put hold on ban of sale of loose cigarettes. Also, hopes of further easing by China's PBOC kept sentiment upbeat in Asian equity markets," said Kiran Kumar Kavikondala, Director & CEO, WealthRays Securities.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 391.07 crore yesterday as per provisional data.
The BSE Sensex resumed higher at 28,616.93 and shot up further to a high 28,808.78 on initial strong buying. It, however, declined afterwards to 28,448.95 before ending at 28,562.82, a gain of 120.11 points or 0.42 percent.
It had lost 251.28 points, or 0.88 percent, in the previous three sessions.
The CNX 50-share Nifty today rose by 26.75 points, or 0.31 percent, to close at 8,564.40 after hitting a historic high of 8,626.95 during the early trade. It bettered its lifetime high of 8,623 hit on December 1.
Besides global stimulus talk, Asian stock markets tracked fresh signs of resilience in the US economy. The Shanghai Composite index jumped by 4.31 percent while other indices like Singapore, Hong kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea ended higher by gaining 0.04 percent to 1.72 percent.
European stocks were trading marginally higher ahead of monetary policy review from European Central Bank (ECB) and a speech from ECB President Mario Draghi later. Key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK moved up by 0.09 percent 0.37 percent.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.18 percent to hit fresh record-high in yesterday's trade.
Turning to the Indian market, 13 scrips out of 30-share Sensex pack ended higher while 17 others finished lower.
The total market capitalisation of BSE listed firms rose to new peak of Rs 100.73 trillion. It had closed above the Rs 100 trillion mark for the first time in its history yesterday.
Other gainers include Sesa Sterlite 2.80 percent, Cipla 2.61 percent, ICICI Bank 0.90 percent, HUL 0.87 percent, HDFC Bank 0.86 percent, SBI 0.85 percent, Hero Motocorp 0.73 percent and HDFC 0.66 percent.
However, Bharti Airtel fell by 2.08 percent, Hindalco 1.84 percent, BHEL 1.56 percent, M&M 1.51 percent, Tata Power 1.44 percent, Infosys 0.93 percent and Reliance Industries 0.79 percent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, FMCG index rose sharply by 3.00 percent, Bankex 0.76 percent, Capital Goods 0.40 percent and Auto 0.13 percent while Teck dropped by 0.62 percent and Consumer Durable 0.53 percent.
Small-cap and Mid-cap indices also firmed up further by 0.31 percent and 0.25 percent on persistent demand from retail investors.
Overall market breadth remained positive as 1,498 counters finished in the green while 1,458 settled in the red and 118 held stable. Total turnover moved up to Rs 4,019.23 crore from Rs 3,934.91 crore yesterday.
