Sensex rises 211 pts to close at 1-month high

The Samvat year 2070 ended on a cheerful note with benchmark Sensex today surging over 211 points to end at one-month high on renewed optimism after Modi government announced a slew of economic reforms and hopes of the ongoing festive season giving boost to corporate earnings.

After gaining 576.31 points in the previous three sessions, the 30-share bluechip index continued its upmove and touched the day's high of 26,818.33 before finally closing at 26,787.23-up 211.58 points, or 0.80 per cent.

After reforms in oil and gas and coal sectors, increased capital infows on expectations that Modi government will accelerate economic reforms after stellar showing by the BJP in state Assembly elections and encouraging quarterly earnings by some bluechip firms, buoyed sentiments, traders said.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 68.15 points, or 0.86 per cent to close at 7,995.90 after crossing 8,000-mark for the first time since September 30.

With markets ending positively on last day of the Hindu Samvat year 2070, the Sensex has risen by over 26 per cent during this period. Investor wealth of BSE listed stocks has soared by Rs 25 trillion to end at Rs 93.32 trillion.

Out of the 21 winners in the Sensex, major contributors include BHEL (up 1.89 pc), Cipla (3.43 pc), Dr Reddys (2.13 pc), HDFC (0.89 pc), Hind Unilever (1.02 pc), L&T (2.59 pc), RIL (1.81 pc) and Wipro (1.47 pc).

Auto shares were at the forefront and led gainers, supported by expectations of strong numbers during ongoing festive season and robust sale on Dhanteras on Tuesday.

Prominent stock gainers were Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors that gained 3-4 per cent.

"Expect market to remain bullish from this Samvat to the next but volatility is likely to continue. In this rally so far, IT, Pharma, Auto Consumer, Banking had been the leaders. Cements and Infra would do well in the coming year considering Modi government's focus has been on building new cities," said S K Goel, Director, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

In Samvat 2070, Sensex has recorded a handsome gain of 5,590.42 points, or 26.37 per cent from the closing of last Samvat 2069 (November 1, 2013). The NSE Nifty registered a hefty rise of 1,688.70 points, or 26.77 per cent.

Meanwhile, the provisional data released by the stock exchanges showed Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 32.40 crore on Tuesday.

Asian stocks, except China, closed firm, following overnight bullish US market amid upbeat quarterly results from tech giant Apple and talk of stimulus in Europe. Key indices from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan finished higher between 1.09 per cent and 2.64 per cent.

European stocks were trading mixed in their early trade, as some earnings reports missed estimates, outweighing speculation the European Central Bank will boost stimulus. Key indices in France and UK moved down by 0.13 per cent to 0.22 per cent while Germany's DAX was quoting slightly higher.

Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said," Local Indian equities continued to trade strong for the day with the help of bluechip companies taking cues from strong global equities."

As many as 21 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex ended higher while only nine finished lower. Major gainers were Hero Motoco (4.03 per cent), Tata Motors (3.54 per cent), Maruti (3.44 per cent), Cipla (3.43 per cent), Bajaj Auto (3.43 per cent), Larsen (2.59 per cent) and M&M (2.58 per cent).

Dr Reddy's Lab (2.13 per cent), BHEL (1.89 per cent), Reliance Industries (1.81 per cent), Wipro (1.47 per cent), Sun Pharma (1.25 per cent) and HUL (1.02 per cent) also gained.

Sensex laggards on Wednesday  include ONGC that dropped by 1.97 per cent, ITC 0.65 per cent, NTPC 0.58 per cent and Coal India 0.58 per cent.

Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Auto rose by 2.97 per cent, followed by Capital Goods 2.08 per cent, Healthcare 1.67 per cent and Consumer Durables 1.16 per cent.

Market breadth remained positive as 1,784 stocks ended with gains while 1,031 finished lower. The total turnover dropped to Rs 2,617.70 crore from Rs 3,112.63 crore yesterday.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will remain closed for regular trading, but will remain open for special trading from 18.15 hrs to 19.30 hrs tomorrow, October 23, 2014, for "MUHURAT TRADING".

Both the exchanges will remain closed on October 24, 2014 for observing "Diwali Balipratipada".