Snapping its three-day losing run, market benchmark index Sensex rose by 271 points on Thursday following gains in banking and energy stocks despite a massive sell-off in global equities.
The 30-share BSE Sensex settled 271.02 points or 0.66 per cent, higher at 41,386.40. It hit an intra-day high of 41,413.96 and a low of 41,098.91.
The broader NSE Nifty gained 73.45 points, or 0.61 per cent, to end at 12,180.35, ending its four-day losing streak.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising by 2.98 per cent, after the company reported a 15 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 2,560.32 crore for the quarter to December 2019.
Bharti Airtel, which is facing Rs 35,586 crore demand for AGR dues, rose by 1.8 per cent after the telecom firm said it will wait for the outcome of modification petition listed for hearing before the Supreme Court next week. Sources also said that the DoT has advised its departments to not take any coercive action against the telcos for failing to pay AGR dues by the January 23 deadline set by the Supreme Court.
Banking stocks also recovered after recent losses. SBI rose by 2.26 per cent, Axis Bank by 1.41 per cent, Kotak Bank by 1.14 per cent and ICICI Bank by 0.96 per cent.
ONGC gained 1.12 per cent amid a fall in global crude oil prices.
Other gainers included M&M, Titan, Infosys, and Ultratech Cement.
Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, TCS, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries and Maruti ended in the red.
According to experts, despite the carnage in other Asian equities amid fears of contagion after a deadly virus emerged from China, stock-specific action kept domestic benchmarks buoyed.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said, “The market is marginally up today due to the bounce back by banks, auto, and mid & small caps after a mild consolidation during the week. We feel that a cautious trend will be maintained in the near-term since a lot has been factored in the market about budget wish list and revival in earnings growth, while the start to Q3 result is below par.”
Hemang Kapasi, Portfolio Manager, Equity Investment Products, Sanctum Wealth Management, “Nifty snapped a four-day losing streak on the back of short-covering.
While the performance of the headline index is not very spectacular over a couple of weeks, the midcaps are gaining traction.”
Midcaps have delivered 8 per cent return over last one month while Nifty has given marginally negative return, he added.
All sectoral indices ended on a positive note, with BSE capital goods, realty, oil and gas, telecom, consumer durables, industrials and utilities settling up to 2.33 per cent higher.
Broader BSE midcap and smallcap rallied up to 1.06 per cent.
Modest fall in crude oil price and a sharp upsurge in Larsen & Toubro stock post the results helped bulls maintain positive sentiment in the market, Shrikant Chouhan, Senior Vice-President, Equity Technical Research, Kotak Securities commented.
Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul declined up to 2.75 per cent. European markets were also trading on a negative note in their early sessions.
Brent crude oil futures fell 1.22 per cent to USD 62.44 per barrel.
The rupee depreciated 9 paise to 71.28 per US dollar (intra-day).
Source: Thanks WIONews.com