Sensex surges 198 points, Nifty regains 9,900 level

Mumbai: The Sensex rose 198 points and the Nifty recaptured the 9,900 mark in the opening trade on Wednesday after buying in realty, oil and gas and banking stocks paced up.

Speculators were busy covering up short positions ahead of the September derivatives contract expiry on Thursday, which added to the upward move.
The BSE 30-share barometer went up 197.70 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 31,797.46.

The gauge had lost 824 points in the previous six sessions, in line with a general weakness across the globe fuelled by escalating worries about Korean peninsula. Sectoral indices led by realty, oil and gas, consumer durables, auto and banking were in the green, adding up to 1.65 per cent.

The NSE Nifty was also higher by 49.55 points, or 0.50 per cent, to trade at 9,921.05. Traders said gains at most other Asian markets despite rising US-North Korea tensions had a bearing here.

Besides, continuous pumping in of funds by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) supported the market. Maruti Suzuki surged the most among Sensex components, gaining 0.85 per cent, followed by PowerGrid (0.71 per cent).

Other gainers included Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, TCS, HDFC Bank and M&M, rising by up to 0.64 per cent. However, telecom segment stocks such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communication were under pressure and fell by up to 1.05 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.44 per cent while Shanghai Composite gained 0.05 per cent. Japan's Nikkei, however, shed 0.29 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended lower by 0.05 per cent yesterday.