Mumbai: Indian markets on November 20 logged their first rise in three sessions with benchmark Sensex gaining 35 points to end at 28,067.56 and Nifty appreciating 20 points to close above 8,400-mark after IT and pharma shares held to late gains, amid rupee breaching the 62-mark versus the US dollar.
Washing out mid-session losses, both the key indices ended moderately higher despite profit-booking in select Consumer Durable, Realty, Metal and Auto sectors. Shares of IT sectors firmed up on hopes of rise in the income of companies in rupee terms following the fall of local currency to 62.25 in late afternoon trade against Greenback.
The S&P BSE benchmark Sensex opened better but dropped to a low of 27,915.23 on some weakness in Asian counterparts. Later, it bounced back at the fag end to settle at 28,067.56, showing a gain of 34.17 points or 0.12 per cent. In last two days, it had fallen by 145.03 points or 0.51 per cent.
The broad-based 50-share CNX Nifty of the NSE also recovered by 19.60 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 8,401.90. Rise in Infosys, TCS, Cipla, ICICI Bank, ITC, HDFC, Wipro, RIL, ONGC and SBI mainly supported the market to land in positive terrain at close. "It was a volatile trading session for the equity markets on Thursday as the benchmarks were seen moving in both directions in a narrow range and closed marginally in green. On sectoral front, IT counters were remained in the limelight throughout the session," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
Laggards included HDFC Bank, L&T, Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, NTPC and BHEL. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) slowed down their purchases and bought shares worth a net Rs 71.80 crore yesterday, according to provisional data. Asian stocks ended mixed as China's manufacturing weakened and the latest Fed minutes reminded investors that US interest rates are likely to rise next year.
Key indices in China, Japan and Taiwan moved up by 0.07 per cent to 1.29 per cent while those from Hongkong, Singapore and South Korea moved down by 0.10 per cent to 0.57 per cent.
