BSE Sensex jumps 326 pts to regain 20,000-pt mark as RIL shares jump over 5%

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After opening at 19,750.67,the 30-share index gained momentum as session progressed to touch high of 20,083.47 and finally settled the day at 20,030.77 — a gain of 326.44 points or 1.66 per cent. On Friday,Sensex gained 30 points.

Last week,Sensex fell by 2.9 per cent on concerns early withdrawal of US monetary stimulus will hit FII fund flows.

RIL,which has second-highest weight in Sensex,was the star performer surging 5.12 per cent — best gain in over 8 months — after announcing a huge natural gas discovery in the flagging eastern offshore KG-D6 block on Friday.

ITC,HDFC Bank and HDFC notched up 1-2 per cent gains. Sun Pharma gained over 4.6 per cent and CIL rose ahead of March quarter earnings. 27 of 30 Sensex constituents rose.

Buying momentum was so strong that all 13 BSE sectoral indices closed with gains of between 0.53-3.00 per cent with consumer durable,oil,metal,pharma and banks at forefront.

“This week would be action packed and volatile,since it will include the derivative expiry as well as GDP data. Expect markets to bounce upward on back of expected weakness in USD,” said Nagji K Rita,CMD,Inventure Growth & Securities.

The 50-share NSE Nifty shot up by 99.60 points or 1.66 per cent to 6,083.15. Similarly,MCX-SX — flagship index SX40 — closed up 214.5 points,or 1.84 per cent,at 11,681.13.

Overall,nearly 1400 scrips rose today while 990 fell. Investor wealth rose by Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 66.7 lakh crore.

Analysts said the surge in stocks could be due to short-covering ahead of Thursday’s monthly derivative expiry.

Outside broader indices,Britannia Industries gained nearly 16 per cent after robust earnings. Astrazeneca Pharma surged over 15 per cent ahead of parent’s firm proposed OFS.

However,aviation stocks saw a bad day with Spicejet (down 4.9 pc) and Jet Airways (down 3 pc) after poor results.

Globally,Asian markets closed mixed with upward bias. Indices from China,Hong Kong,South Korea and Taiwan finished with gains while from Japan and Singapore ended lower.

European markets were trading higher in their early trade as CAC (France) was quoting 0.79 per cent up and DAX (Germany) was trading 0.70 percent higher. UK market was closed today. US markets are closed today on account of Memorial Day.

Back home,besides RIL,other major gainers from Sensex pack were Sun Pharma (4.66 pc),Jindal Steel (3.61 pc),Bharti Airtel (3.31 pc),Hindalco (3.17 pc),Sterlite Ind. (2.78 pc),HDFC (2.24 pc),Tata Motors (2.20 pc),BHEL (2.02 pc),HDFC Bank (1.92 pc),TCS (1.88 pc) and Hero MotoCorp (1.62 pc).

NTPC (1.50 pc),ICICI Bank (1.25 pc),Tata Steel (1.23 pc),Dr Reddy’s Lab (1.19 pc),Gail India (1.18 pc),ITC (1.14 pc),Wipro (1.02 pc),Coal India (1.01 pc),HUL (0.90 pc) and Infosys (0.83 pc).

“Continued optimism from FIIs and easing inflation rates have lately boosted the market sentiment and buying was seen in particularly rate-sensitive sectors like Realty,Banking and Auto sectors. Going forward,Q4 results and global cues will continue to impact near term trend,” said Nidhi Saraswat,Senior Research Analyst,Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

Among the sectoral indices,S&P BSE-CD flared up by 3.0 per cent,followed by S&P BSE-Oil&Gas (2.76 pc) and S&P BSE-Metal (1.95 pc),S&P BSE-HC (1.56 pc),S&P BSE-Teck (1.55 pc) and S&P BSE-Bankex (1.47 pc).

The total turnover declined further to Rs 1,888.00 crore from Rs 1,981.93 crore previously.

Meanwhile,Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 238.56 crore last Friday,as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

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