Ahead of the RBI’s monetary policy on April 7, 2015 and following a sharp jump in the European markets after a better than expected manufacturing data for the euro area in March, the benchmark Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange and Nifty at National Stock Exchange rallied strongly in the second half of the trading session on Wednesday to close with a gain of over 1 per cent. While the Sensex closed at 28,260 with a gain of 302.7 points or 1.1 per cent, the broader Nifty closed at 8,586 rising 95 points or 1.1 per cent. Both the indices rose by 2.9 per cent in the week as the markets will remain close for trading on Thursday and Friday. [related-post] “Strong momentum in European market led by good PMI provided the essential trend to India market,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. A Barclays research report said that new orders and employment triggered the brunt of the upward revision. “Overall in March, euro weakness boosted new orders, which hit an eleven-month high (52.5), while also supporting an increase in input costs: input prices surged 6 points to 50.9. “In our view, today’s data suggest that the weaker euro, lower oil prices, better economic environment and accommodative monetary policy should finally support a much awaited improvement in manufacturing activity.” The day saw participation from FIIs too, as they invested a net of Rs 210 crore in the Indian equities. Before the monetary policy review meeting scheduled next week the banking index rose the most among the sectoral indices by 2.4 per cent on Wednesday. The healthcare and the FMCG indices also gained by 2.3 and 1.3 per cent respectively during the day. Among the Sensex stocks Sun Pharma emerged as the biggest gainer and the stock rose by 5.5 per cent followed by Tata Motors that rose by 2.7 per cent.
