Sensex, Nifty end higher for 2nd session on strong fund inflow, firm rupee

The BSE Sensex Friday continued its rising streak for the second day to end at near a four-week high of 35,436.33, fuelled by gains in Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and other blue chips amid continued foreign fund inflows and strengthening rupee. A higher opening in European shares too influenced sentiments here.

Both benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - recorded their third straight weekly gains by rising 298.61 points and 97 points, respectively. The Sensex opened higher and advanced further to scale the day's high of 35,545.85, but settled at 35,457.16 points, a gain of 196.62 points, or 0.56 per cent, due to profit-taking activity.

This is the highest closing since October 17, when it had closed at 34,779.58. The gauge had risen 119 points in Thursday's trade.

The 50-share NSE Nifty settled 65.50 points, or 0.62 per cent higher, at 10,682.20 after shuttling between 10,695.15 and 10,631.15.

Bharti Airtel led the gains on Sensex, rallying 9.81 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries (RIL) that rose 2.79 per cent. RIL piped Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in becoming the most-valued company in terms of market capitalisation. The IT company ended the session 0.90 per cent higher at Rs 1,882.25 .

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On BSE, RIL's market capitalisation was Rs 7,14,668.54 crore, while TCS slipped to the second spot with a valuation of Rs 7,06,292.61 crore.

Other big movers included Hero MotoCorp rising 1.81 per cent, SBI 1.75 per cent, HDFC 1.67 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.28 per cent, Asian Paints 1.12 per cent, Sun Pharma 0.90 per cent, Bajaj Auto 0.89 per cent, ITC 0.66 per cent and Kotak Bank 0.42 per cent.

Shares of Jet Airways surged for a second straight day, climbing 8.07 per cent. On Thursday, shares of Jet airways had rallied up to 26 per cent on bourses.

Among laggards, Yes Bank extended its slide, declining 7.14 per cent to a two-week low after former SBI chairman O P Bhatt resigned Thursday from the panel set up by private-sector lender to find a successor to its MD and CEO Rana Kapoor.

Tata Steel, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HUL, Vedanta, Tata Motors and and L&T too retreated up to 2.47 per cent.

In the BSE sectoral pool, teck stayed on the top, rising 1 per cent, followed by healthcare 0.51 per cent, FMCG 0.47 per cent, IT 0.31 per cent, power 0.25 per cent, consumer durables 0.25 per cent and realty 0.19 per cent.

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However, metal, infrastructure, oil & gas, PSU, capital goods goods and auto indices ended in the red. Broader markets were under pressure with the smallcap index falling 0.45 per cent and midcap shedding 0.41 per cent.

According to analysts, market was range bound with a positive bias amid strong rupee and inflow of foreign funds.

"While investors are looking for major triggers for a decisive upmove above 10,700 level, stability in the rupee and oil prices will provide direction to the market despite election-led uncertainty," they added.

The rupee was trading higher by 25 paise at 71.72 against the American currency (intra-day) Friday. Positive leads from other Asian markets tracking overnight gains at Wall Street also boosted investor sentiment.

Continued capital inflows by foreign funds and retail investors kept market's mood upbeat, traders said.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) accumulated shares worth a net of Rs 2,043.06 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 165.31 crore Thursday, provisional data showed.

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Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.41 per cent, Singapore gained 0.37 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.03 per cent higher. Japan's Nikkei, however, fell 0.57 per cent.

European shares were in better shape in their early session on strong earnings, with Paris CAC 40 rising 0.82 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX up 0.70 per cent and London's FTSE gaining 0.60 per cent.