Short covering, value buying spur rebound

Mumbai: Extending gains for the second straight session, equity benchmark BSE Sensex jumped by nearly two per cent to soar past the 56,000-mark on Thursday, propelled by robust buying in finance, banking and IT stocks. Value-buying persisted in blue chips as well as select mid- and small-cap counters after their recent spell of weakness, traders said. A strong recovery in the rupee further boosted domestic equities despite the US Federal Reserve hiked rates to tame inflation, they added.

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised key interest rates by 75 basis points for the second straight month. The 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 1,041.47 points or 1.87 per cent to settle at 56,857.79. During the day, it rallied 1,097.9 points or 1.96 per cent to 56,914.22. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 287.80 points or 1.73 per cent to 16,929.60.

"The Nifty rose sharply after the US Fed's comments hinting at a possibility of a slower pace of monetary tightening. Stocks rose on Thursday as the prospect of a slower pace of Federal Reserve monetary tightening filtered across global markets. European shares came off session highs on Thursday, as a slew of downbeat earnings took the shine off a global rally driven by easing worries about the future pace of US interest rate hikes," Deepak Jasani, head (retail research), HDFC Securities, said.