Mumbai : After days of dithering, bulls made a strong comeback on Friday, with the Sensex surging 456 points to reclaim the 26,000-mark on the first day of December series, led by gains in export-oriented IT and pharma on a rebounding rupee, reports PTI. This was the benchmark’s biggest single day gain since October 18, when it had surged 520.91 points. The Sensex opened higher at 25,953.24 and hovered in a range of 25,874.45 and 26,343.95 before ending at 26,316.34, showing a gain of 456.17 points or 1.76 per cent. The NSE 50-share Nifty rose by 148.80 points or 1.87 per cent to close above 8,100-level at 8,114.30. After touching a fresh all-time low against the US dollar yesterday, the rupee jumped 27 paise to end at 68.46. “With fresh positions being initiated in December futures and options (F&O) series, and with rupee strengthening sharply, market found its voice, and registered gains across sectors,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. Gains were initially seen in IT and metal sectors, but mid-caps too joined the rally, suggesting that risk appetite had improved after a fortnight-long selling spree had rendered prices ripe for value picking, he added. In the IT pack, TCS rose 5.23 per cent, followed by Infosys (4.78 per cent) and Wipro (3.09 per cent), while pharma sector gainers were Sun Pharma (4.18 per cent), Aurobindo Pharma (4.07 per cent), Lupin (3.36 per cent) and Cipla (1.75 per cent). Friday’s rally helped the markets wipe-off losses posted earlier this week. Both the Sensex and Nifty ended the week higher by 166.10 points (0.63 per cent) and 40.20 points (0.49 per cent), respectively.
Fitch Ratings on Friday said it expects India’s GDP growth to trend higher than China’s in the medium term, adding that it would accelerate next fiscal on the back of reforms and monetary policy easing, which may have contributed to the market upmove.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 2,010.15 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. In overseas markets, Asian stocks gained as the Thanksgiving break in the US pegged the dollar’s relentless surge that had sucked capital out of most emerging markets.
Key Asian indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan moved up by 0.08 per cent to 0.62 per cent. European markets were trading narrowly mixed as key indices in France and UK rose by 0.02 per cent to 0.04 per cent, while Germany’s DAX quoted lower by 0.01 per cent.
