Business

Further smart rise in Sensex

MUMBAI: In a phenomenal come back, the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) gained 893.58 points or 4.69 per cent at 19929.06 on Wednesday. The 50-share Nifty also closed up by 242.50 points or 4.26 per cent at 5937.90 against the previous close of 5695.40, backed by strong global cues. This was the biggest ever single day gain for the benchmark index, Sensex. The previous biggest one-day gain was when it rose by 878.85 points on October 23.

On Wednesday, the Sensex rallied to an intra-day high of 19987.71, a jump of 952.23 points or 5 per cent. The BSE midcap index gained 171.91 points or 2.12 per cent at 8285.53 and the BSE smallcap 238.09 points or 2.43 per cent at 10039.38. The BSE-500 gained 294.18 points or 3.87 per cent. Oil and gas, capital goods, metal and banking stocks led the rally.

“The market gain was because of global cues. Besides, the political development also gelled well with the sentiment.

“The rally was driven by short-covering, strong buying by domestic investors and high net worth individuals (HNIs). However, there was not much involvement by foreign investors,” Asika Stock Brokers’ Paras Bodhra said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, on Tuesday, jumped by 319.54 points or 2.46 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 89.52 or 3.46 per cent, its biggest point gain since May 2002.

Asian indices closed sharply up in a range of 1.4 per cent to five per cent.

In India, among frontline stocks, ICICI Bank was up by 9 per cent, Hindalco by around 7 per cent, Reliance Industries, the index heavy weight, by 7.11 per cent, HDFC Bank 10.81 per cent and HDFC by 6.51 per cent.

Some market participants believe that the U.S. credit woes were easing as HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, stated that its third-quarter profits were ahead of a year ago and revenue growth across the group had offset a higher charge for bad debts in the U.S.

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