Tech stocks spur market rebound; Sensex soars 318 points

Mumbai, May 24

Benchmarks clawed back lost ground on Thursday as a weak rupee buoyed the appeal of technology shares amid a mixed trend overseas.

The BSE Sensex surged over 318 points to close at 34,663.11, just a day after it had tumbled 306 points following a late-session sell-off. This is the benchmark’s biggest single session gain since April 5, when it had surged 577.73 points.

The broader NSE Nifty too reclaimed the crucial 10,500-mark.

Bargain hunting by investors following the recent market declines and unabated buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) supported the upmove, analysts said.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and L&T Infotech spurted up to 5.85 per cent as a weak rupee brightened the earnings outlook of Indian IT outsourcers.

Global cues were mixed amid caution over US-China trade relations, with the US launching a national security probe into auto imports that could lead to new tariffs.

However, minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting reassured investors that the US central bank will not be too aggressive with raising interest rates.

Back home, the BSE Sensex stayed in the positive terrain throughout the session and hit a high of 34,741.46 intra-day, before finishing at 34,663.11 -- showing a sharp rise of 318.20 points, or 0.93 per cent.

The broader NSE Nifty scaled a high of 10,535.15 before closing at 10,513.85, up 83.50 points, or 0.80 per cent.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 789.78 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 311.11 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

“Market reversed from day’s low despite global trade worries as weak INR gave room for export oriented sectors to surge.

“Further, US Fed’s softened comment on interest rate trajectory upheld investors’ sentiment,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

SBI extended its gaining streak for the third straight session, climbing 2.01 per cent.

Other lenders such as Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, PNB, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Federal Bank also ended in the green, rising up to 2.65 per cent.

Bharti Airtel led the index gainers’ list, surging 4.11 per cent, followed by Infosys at 3.09 per cent.

Other winners included TCS 3.08 per cent, Axis Bank 2.65 per cent, Sun Pharma 2.23 per cent, SBI 2.01 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.90 per cent, Tata Steel 1.70 per cent, Kotak Bank 1.57 per cent, M&M 1.49 per cent, HDFC Ltd 1.24 per cent, Dr Reddy’s 1.20 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.17 per cent, Coal India 1.12 per cent, Asian Paints 0.94 per cent, L&T 0.86 per cent, IndusInd Bank 0.78 per cent, ITC 0.49 per cent, RIL 0.42 per cent, Wipro 0.36 per cent, Power Grid 0.33 per cent and Hero Motocorp 0.12 per cent.

However, Tata Motors was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, declining 6.56 per cent, after the company yesterday reported a 49.82 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,176.16 crore for the March quarter with its British arm JLR continuing to face challenges in the UK and Europe.

Vedanta remained under selling pressure and lost another 0.91 per cent in the aftermath of violent protests against the group’s copper plant in Tuticorin.

State-owned oil companies OIL, ONGC, HPCL and BPCL fell up to 6.83 per cent amid high crude oil prices.

Among sectoral indices, IT gained the most by rising 2.45 per cent, followed by teck 2.37 per cent, bankex 1.41 per cent, metal 1 per cent, healthcare 0.99 per cent, FMCG 0.41 per cent and capital goods 0.29 per cent.

However, oil and gas fell 1.72 per cent, auto 1.56 per cent, realty 0.49 per cent, consumer durables 0.32 per cent, infrastructure 0.32 per cent, power 0.22 per cent and PSU 0.08 per cent.

Broader markets showed a weak trend, with the BSE mid-cap index falling 0.24 per cent and small-caps shedding 0.14 per cent.

Coming to other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.31 per cent and Singapore gained 0.93 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.11 per cent and Shanghai Composite shed 0.45 per cent.

In the Eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.06 per cent and Paris CAC gained 0.42 per cent in early deals. London’s FTSE gained 0.10 per cent. PTI