Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex rose for the second straight day by surging 363 points to close at over three-week high of 27,687.30 mainly led by gains in consumer durables, oil & gas and healthcare stocks. Forecast of timely monsoon coupled with the government containing fiscal deficit at 4.00 per cent of the GDP for 2014-15 boosted the market sentiment, traders said. Value-buying in recently beaten down blue-chip stocks too helped the market.
The Sensex began on a strong footing at 27,416.97 and continued to rise to hit a high of 27,725.97 before settling 363.30 points or 1.33 per cent higher at 27,687.30. This is the best closing since April 23 when Sensex had closed at 27,735.02. The gauge has now gained 481.24 points in two sessions. The broad-based NSE Nifty regained the 8,300-level by surging 111.30 points or 1.35 per cent to close at 8,373.65.
It shuttled between 8384.60 and 8,271.95 intra-day. Equity brokers said sentiments got bolstered after a forecast of a timely monsoon and expectations of a rate cut by the Reserve bank at its policy meet early next month following cooling inflation and slowing industrial growth. Stocks of oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and IOC gained up to 3.93 per cent on the back of a hike in petrol and diesel prices last week. Of 30-share Sensex pack, 27 stocks gained while three ended with losses.
Dr Reddy's shares emerged as the top gainer by climbing 3.48 per cent to Rs 3,613.25, followed by GAIL 3.45 per cent.Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 38.31 crore Friday, as per provisional data. Positive cues from global markets with Asian bourses ending mixed and a higher opening of the European markets also influenced trading sentiments here.
However, shares of Hero MotoCorp, NTPC and Coal India ended in the red. Sectorally, consumer durables index gained the most by rising 2.16 per cent, followed by oil&gas (2.09 pc), healthcare (1.54 pc), infra (1.43 pc), FMCG (1.37 pc) and bankex (1.21 pc). In tandem with overall trends, the BSE smallcap index rose 0.97 per cent, while midcap edged up by 0.98 per cent.
