Sensex zooms 517 points after Fed signals delay in rate hike

Mumbai, August 27

Shaking off its weakness, the benchmark BSE Sensex staged a comeback of sorts, jumping over 516 points to retake the 26,000-level — its biggest single-day gain in two weeks — after a top Fed policymaker said the case for September rate hike looks "less compelling".

The Nifty too climbed 157 points to recapture the 7,900-mark.

The comments, which led to a sharp rebound on Wall Street overnight, effectively buoyed investor sentiment here as worries of a China-led market slide took a back seat.

On Wednesday, New York Fed president William Dudley said the arguments for a rate lift-off are less compelling than it was a few weeks ago due to the threat posed by the recent spell of global market turbulence over Chinese slowdown fears.

The recovery was supported by gains in blue-chips as consumer durables, realty and healthcare counters shaped up.

Covering up of short positions on expiry of August futures and options contracts at the end of session also contributed to the upside.

Tracking the bullish cues, the 30-share Sensex hit the day's high of 26,302.77, before closing at 26,231.19, up 516.53, or 2.01%.

Once it cracked above the 7,900-level, the 50-share NSE Nifty jumped to a session's high of 7,963.60, before settling lower 157.10 points, or 2.02%, at 7,948.95.

HDFC gave a standout performance, up 8.41%, as Vedanta, Tata Steel, Lupin and Cipla too registered gains.

Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables bounced back the most followed by realty, healthcare and oil & gas.

The broader markets, supported by retail investors, gained ground too as BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices surged 2.56% and 2.49%, respectively.

Re recovers 10 paise to 66.04 vs $

After a brief overnight fall, the rupee recovered by 10 paise to settle at 66.04 against the American currency on fresh selling of dollar by banks and exporters amid a smart rebound in local equity markets.

The domestic unit opened sharply higher at 65.95 per dollar against Wednesday's closing level of 66.14 at the forex market and rallied further to touch an intra-day high of 65.86 following heavy dollar unwinding by banks and corporates.

However, the local currency turned highly volatile in late afternoon trade to reverse its initial robust gains and slipped back to hit a low of 66.14.

Later, it regained some lost ground to settle at 66.04, showing a gain of 10 paise, or 0.15%.