Rebound in rupee, global cues buoys markets; Sensex up 517 points

Mumbai, Aug 27: Rebound in rupee value, Chinese markets and global sentiments on deferment of a rate hike in the US on Thursday ushered in a major recovery in the Indian equity markets after Monday's crash. The recovery propelled the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to gain 517 points or 2.01 percent in the day's trade. Upbeat sentiments were also seen on the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) which too made healthy gains. The CNX Nifty of the NSE rose 157.10 points or 2.02 percent at 7,948.95 points. The S&P BSE Sensex which opened at 26,137.03 points, closed at 26,231.19 points -- up 516.53 points or 2.01 percent from the previous day's close at 25,714.66 points. The S&P BSE Sensex touched a high of 26,302.77 points and a low of 25,943.75 points in the intra-day trade. Analyst said the markets remained in the positive zone on Thursday due to improved global conditions and speculation that US Fed may keep rates unchanged. "The strengthening of the rupee helped improve sentiments. The rebound in the Chinese markets brought relief to the investors and the speculation that the US Fed might not go ahead with a rate hike led the thrust in today's rally," Alex Mathews, head research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services told IANS. The rupee gained by 9 paise and closed at 66.05 to a US dollar from Wednesday's close of 66.14. It touched a day's low of 66.85. "The rupee is following the global equity movements which have been by and large positive. Exporters have also been on a selling spree," Hiren Sharma, senior vice president, currency advisory at Anand Rathi Financial Services told IANS. Some indications have also propped-up that the Chinese central bank has been selling securities to stabilise the yuan. The Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed with gains of 5.40 percent. On Wednesday the index lost 1.30 percent. The massive implosion in the Chinese markets which by some estimates have eroded 40-45 percent of the entire stock value had caused the steepest fall in the Indian barometer index on Monday. The S&P BSE Sensex had lost as much as 1,624.51 points, or 5.94 percent -- which was the steepest in terms of points on Monday. On the other hand, markets were also buoyed by speculations that the US Fed might not go ahead with the decision to hike key lending rates after a decade of ease money regime. High interest rates in the US are expected to lead away the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) from emerging markets like India. "The announcements on the new smart cities has also added positive bias to the market and indicates a restart of some sorts on the reform front," Mathews said. Analysts added that the markets rally was also supported by short-covering or value buying on the expiry day of August derivative contracts. Sector-wise, all the 12 BSE sub-indices of the BSE closed in the green. The S&P BSE consumer durables index zoomed by 542.24 points, the healthcare index rocketed by 504.12 points, banking index gained by 354.62 points, the oil and gas index rose by 241.36 points and the metals index increased by 182.67 points. Major Sensex gainers in Thursday's trade were: HDFC, up 8.41 percent at Rs.1,195.20; Vedanta, up 6.55 percent at Rs.91.15; Tata Steel, up 4.80 percent at Rs.225.85; Lupin, up 4.79 percent at Rs.1,898.50; and Cipla, up 3.95 percent at Rs.661.15. The major Sensex losers were: BHEL, down 3.54 percent at Rs.231.70; Bajaj Auto, down 2.44 percent at Rs.2,189.30; Tata Motors, down 0.62 percent at Rs.334.70; NTPC, down 0.50 percent at Rs.119.15; and Hero MotoCorp, down 0.47 percent at Rs.2,380.70. Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei gained by 1.08 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 3.60 percent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 index swelled by 2.22 percent, French CAC 40 surged by 2.63 percent and Germany's DAX Index climbed by 2.63 percent at close of trading here.

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the ap7am team.)

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