Sensex climbs 142 points as govt clears GST amendments

Rising for the second straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex on Thursday jumped by 142 points to close at 27,705.35 on sustained buying by investors after the Cabinet approved amendments to the GST bill, while a mild uptick in roll over of F&O positions also helped.

Sentiments were boosted after Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the GST Bill raising hopes of passage by Parliament, equity brokers said.

Besides encouraging Q1 earnings by some blue-chip firms, positive global cues following key US Fed statement on optimism over economy too influenced sentiments.

"Sentiment turned cheerful on US Fed not hiking the interest rate in its meet last night. Further, there were renewed hopes that GST Bill can pass in this Monsoon Session of Parliament," said Gaurav Jain, Director of Hem Securities.

The index recorded its second straight rise supported by short-covering by speculators in view of the last day of the futures and options July contract.

Frenzied buying by funds lifted the Sensex to intra-day high of 27,854.46. It finally settled 141.92 points or 0.51 per cent higher at 27,705.35.

Stocks of ITC climbed 3.90 per cent to Rs 315.80 after company posted 3.61 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 2,265.44 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.

The 50-share NSE index Nifty after reclaiming the crucial 8,400-mark touched a high of 8,458.90 midway. It finally settled 46.75 points or 0.56 per cent higher at 8,421.80.

Top gainers from Sensex include, Dr Reddy's (5.23 per cent), Cipla (4.79 per cent), HUL (2.32 per cent), HDFC (1.96 per cent), BHEL (1.29 per cent), SBI (1.26 per cent), Bajaj Auto (1.15 per cent), M&M (0.98 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (0.83 per cent), ICICI Bank (0.61 per cent) and ONGC (0.50 per cent).

Sun Pharma (1.89 per cent), Hindalco (1.60 per cent), Infosys (1.48 per cent), TCS (1.08 per cent), Tata Steel (0.92 per cent) and L&T (0.75 per cent) were among the biggest losers.

Sectorwise, the BSE realty index gained the most by rising 3.48 per cent, followed by FMCG 2.74 per cent, power 1.14 per cent, PSU 0.86 per cent and healthcare 0.77 per cent.

Broader markets also showed a better trend as small-cap rose 0.90 per cent and mid-cap gained 0.79 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 186.24 crore on Wednesday.

Globally, other Asian markets ended mixed, while European markets were higher in their early trade.