IT, banking, oil & gas stocks fuel market rally

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty jumped more than one per cent on Wednesday following heavy buying in IT, banking and oil & gas shares amid a global stocks rally on softer US inflation data.

An encouraging US inflation data has raised hopes for an end to interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 742.06 points or 1.14 per cent to settle at nearly a four week’s high of 65,675.93. During the day, it zoomed 813.78 points or 1.25 per cent to 65,747.65. As many as 27 Sensex shares closed in the green, while three in the red. The Nifty50 of National Stock Exchange climbed 231.90 points or 1.19 per cent to 19,675.45.

Investors’ wealth surged Rs3.29 lakh crore on Wednesday, driven by a robust rally in the equity markets. The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms rallied Rs3,29,520.27 crore to reach Rs3,25,40,108.97 crore.

Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra rose the most by 3.77 per cent. Tata Motors, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank were the major gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.13 per cent and midcap index climbed 0.91 per cent. All indices ended in the green, with realty zooming 2.97 per cent, IT rallying 2.29 per cent, teck jumping 2.12 per cent, auto climbing 1.65 per cent, oil & gas (1.55 per cent) and energy (1.41 per cent).

“The market’s strong gap-up jump in response to positive global cues on account of the softer than anticipated US and UK’s inflation data, highlights the optimism for an end to the interest rate cycle, as evidenced by the ease in bond yields. This is likely to draw FII flows into emerging markets, which is good for India considering the current better earnings season and the festive demand pick-up.

The drop in the CPI for India also improved the mood. The rebound was broad based with IT, realty, oil & gas, metal, and auto leading the way,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs1,244.44 crore, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory. European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended with significant gains on Tuesday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.78 per cent to $81.83 a barrel.