A day after starting off the new Samvat 2062 on a strong note, the stock market witnessed a smart rally on Wednesday on the back of across-the-board buying. This saw the BSE benchmark Sensex close above the crucial 8,000-mark.The Sensex continued its upward movement and closed with a gain of 129 points (1.62 per cent) to close at 8,072.75. The S&P CNX Nifty also spurted 32.30 points and closed at 2,419.05.The firm closing by the market has surprised many as both BSE and NSE are headed for an extended weekend and are shut for trading for the next two days on account of Bhau Dooj and Ramzan Id. Dealers said, the mood in the market was supported by the firm Asian indices and also by the news that crude oil prices in the international markets are stabilizing with a downward bias.That foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are turning net buyers in the cash segment is also adding to the positive sentiment, they added.Kashyap Pujara, vice-president, Sushil Finance and Consultants said, “The markets were beaten down very badly and what we see these days is the continuation of the pull-back rally. However, whether it is clearly a reversal of the trend or not is difficult to say at this point of time, but sectoral movements in the market will continue to take place. The festive season also played its part in the market movement in last two days.”The market breadth was slightly positive with 1,289 stocks advancing as against 1,038 stocks closing in the negative, with 38 closing unchanged. The turnover on the bourses was low compared to the usual trading day.BSE recorded a turnover of Rs 2,154.03 crore and NSE clocked a trading turnover of Rs 4,932.62 crore. Interestingly, on Muhurat day (November 1), FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 50.60 crore in the cash market while in the derivatives segment, they were net buyers to the tune of Rs 114.04 crore.On Wednesday, L&T was the top gainer and Maruti was the top loser in the Sensex pack. The BSE Capital Goods Index outperformed all the other indices. It closed up 2.69 per cent at 4,669.73 amid gains in L&T, Praj Industries, BEML, BHEL, Thermax, KEC International and Siemens. Metal stocks, including Gujarat NRE Coke, Nalco, Jindal Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Welspun Gujarat, SAIL, Hindalco and Tata Steel also ended in the green.
