Sensex rallies 817 pts amid Asian rebound, poll results

Mumbai, March 10

Equity benchmarks maintained their winning momentum for the third session running on Thursday, buoyed by a bullish trend in Asian markets and state election results being in line with expectations. A strengthening rupee added to the momentum despite uncertainties related to the Ukraine crisis, traders said.

HUL surges 5.17%

• The Sensex zoomed over 1,500 points in intra-day trade, before paring some gains to end at 55,464.39, up 817.06 points. NSE Nifty rose 249.55 points to close at 16,594.90
• HUL hogged the limelight, surging 5.17%, followed by Tata Steel, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle and Maruti Suzuki

The Sensex opened on a firm footing and zoomed over 1,500 points in intra-day trade, before paring some gains to end at 55,464.39, up 817.06 points. Similarly, the Nifty jumped 249.55 points to close at 16,594.90.

Hindustan Unilever hogged the limelight in the Sensex pack, surging 5.17%, followed by Tata Steel, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle and Maruti Suzuki.

Only three counters ended in the red — Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and TCS, slipping up to 1.28%.

On the political front, the BJP raced towards a second straight win in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and dominated the score chart in three other states — Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. The AAP announced its national presence with a landslide victory in Punjab, while the Congress came a cropper.

“With hopes of progress in high-level talks between Russia and Ukraine and a surge in the Asian market, the Indian market started with a strong gap-up. The outperformance was supported by positive state election results being in line with expectations.

“However, a weak western market ahead of ECB and US CPI data and rise in crude prices added volatility in between,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. —