Sensex rallies 558 pts; Nifty ends above 14,650

Benchmark equity indices Sensex & Nifty for the second straight day on strong buying seen in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and L&T. At close, the Sensex was up 557 points or 1.15% at 48,944, and the Nifty was up 168 points or 1.16% at 14,653.

L&T was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3%, followed by Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, Maruti, NTPC, Kotak Bank, Nestle India and Dr Reddy’s were among the laggards.

Persistent strength in US markets has rubbed off on Indian stocks, with yesterday’s dip in treasury yields ahead of FOMC decision also helping the overall risk appetite, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Banks have been quite upbeat lately and extended gains by over 1% post noon, but it was metals that shone with over 2.5 per cent gains.

“However, with April derivative expiry approaching, and with Nifty option premiums not pricing much above 14,700 for now, caution is recommended,” he added.

All the key sectoral indices ended in the green with the Nifty Metal index ruling with gains of 2.7%, followed by the Nifty Bank index rising 1.4%.

The market breadth favoured the bulls as broader markets too participated in the rally as 1,325 shares advanced versus 548 stocks declined compared to 376 scrips were unchanged. The S&P BSE MidCap index added 1% today while the SmallCap index surged 1.5%.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a negative note, while Shanghai finished with gains.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading with losses in mid-session deals.

With Nasdaq and S&P at record highs, the global support to markets is strong. The FOMC meeting starting later in the day will be keenly watched by markets for clues on probable trends in rates and yields, experts said.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.51% higher at USD 65.36 per barrel.

(With inputs from PTI.)