Markets soar on value buying, global cues

Sensex zooms by 568 points, its biggest upswing in a year

Mumbai: After a dismal trading week, Indian stock markets were back on the growth track on Monday driven by positive global cues and value-buying. The benchmark BSE Sensex soared by 568 points to 23,554.12 - index’s biggest single-day gain in more than a year as recently battered banking stocks perked up.

The index had risen by 728.73 points on January 15, 2015 after Reserve Bank affected a surprise 25-basis point rate cut, the first of the four policy cuts last year. The market mood changed for the better after Asian stocks rebounded from recent weakness as fears over global economic slowdown eased and crude prices rallied.

China’s central bank also fixed the yuan higher as the nation returned from a week-long holiday. The Sensex resumed higher at 23,223.43 on Monday and firmed up to 23,622.64 before settling at 23,554.12 points - showing a rise of 568 points or 2.47 per cent.

The 50-issue NSE Nifty after reclaiming 7,100, advanced to hit the day’s high of 7,182.80 points, finally settling 182 points or 2.61 per cent higher at 7,162.95. In a bloodbath last week, both the indexes had posted their worst weekly performance since July 2009 with the Sensex falling 1,631 points and Nifty down 508.15 points.

Shares of Indian Oil Corporation ended 6.55 per cent up after its net profit in October-December came in at Rs 3,056.86 crore as against a net loss of Rs 2,636.80 year ago. Overall, 27 counters from the 30-scrip Sensex gained. Shares of country’s biggest lender, SBI rebounded 7.94 per cent to Rs. 167.25 on value-buying. Bank of Baroda too clocked over 22 per cent despite the lender recording the country’s highest-ever quarterly loss.

Other major gainers were Tata Steel (13.01 pc), L&T (9.06 pc), Adani Ports (7.02 pc), Axis Bank (6.83 pc), Coal India (6.71 pc), Tata Motors (5.96 pc), ICICI Bank (4.74 pc) M&M (4.65 pc), Maruti Suzuki (4.57 pc), RIL (4.23 pc), ONGC (3.28 pc), BHEL (3.25 pc), GAIL (2.82 pc), Lupin (2.66 pc), Cipla (2.19 pc), TCS (1.93 pc) and Bajaj Auto (1.88 pc).

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal rose 8.79 per cent followed by capital goods 6.73 per cent, realty (6.17 pc), PSU (4.95 pc), auto (4.27 pc), oil&gas (3.95 pc), infra (3.89 pc), bankex (3.62) and power (2.96 pc). Buying by retail investors too re-emerged in broader markets helping the mid-cap and small-cap indexes gain 3.47 per cent and 3.35 per cent, respectively.

In Asia, Japan and Hong Kong rose by up to 7.16 per cent, while Chinese shares fell by 0.63 per cent. European stocks were also higher with key indices in France and the UK rising up to 2.93 per cent.