Mumbai: The equity markets rallied higher gaining nearly 2 per cent as traders squared-off their short positions (bearish bets) ahead of the Union Budget. Positive global cues on account of the US Federal Reserve maintaining status quo on rates after its two-day meeting also forced traders to cover their bearish bets on the eve of the expiry of the January derivative series.
The Sensex jumped 665.44 points or 1.87 per cent to close the session at 36,256.69 while the Nifty vaulted 179.15 points or 1.68 per cent to close the session at 10,830.95.
“Recently, we saw index correcting sharply from the hurdle of 10,950-11,000 along with decent short formation in futures and options segment. As we have an important event of Interim Budget 2019 lined up, traders were seen lightening up their exiting positions,” said Sneha Seth, derivative analyst at Angel Broking.
According to the provisional data released by the stock exchanges, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) pumped in Rs 3,006.41 crore into the domestic equity market on Thursday. Most of the Asian equity markets also ended the day with strong gains after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rate unchanged and stated that it will be patient about future rate hikes.
