Markets return to pre-note ban level ahead of Union Budget
Rising for a third consecutive session, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty rose over one percent as financial stocks continued to rally on the back of quarterly results.
Mumbai: Rising for a third consecutive session, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty rose over one percent as financial stocks continued to rally on the back of quarterly results.
The domestic bourses hit their highest in nearly two and a half months on strong sentiment aided by optimism ahead of the federal budget. Returning to pre-demonetisation levels, BSE Sensex closed higher by 332.56 points, or 1.21%, to 27,708.14, while the Nifty 50 rose 126.95 points, or 1.50%, to 8,602.75. Nifty went past the 8,600-mark for the first time since November 1.
Banking, metal, auto and consumer durables stocks were in fine nick, lifting the key indices. Covering of pending short positions following the expiry of the January futures and options contracts today and positive earnings by some companies aided sentiment. Stock exchanges will be shut tomorrow (Thursday) for the Republic Day.
After a positive start, the 30-share Sensex rose further and settled up 332.56 points, or 1.21 per cent, at 27,708.14 -- a level last seen on November 1 when it had closed at 27,876.61. It hit an intra-day high of 27,736.83. The gauge had rallied 341.08 points in the previous two sessions.
Encouraging third quarter earnings from lenders such as HDFC Bank this week have raised optimism that the impact of India’s move to ban higher-value currency notes could be less than expected. Still, analysts expect India’s annual budget, due on 1 February, to provide incentives to some sectors to help support economic growth.
“Markets are generally getting excited about results declared by some finance companies as the numbers have not shown any major impact of demonetization,” said Dipen Shah, senior vice president, public client group research, Kotak Securities.
