Sensex snaps 4-day falling streak, recaptures 34k-mark on easing crude, recovery in rupee

Reversing a four-session slide, the BSE Sensex on Wednesday recaptured the 34,000-mark by jumping 187 points amid easing crude oil prices and a recovery in the rupee.

The broader Nifty also managed to end above the 10,200-level.

Bear operators, who had been creating short-positions in the past several sessions, were seen covering up positions ahead of October month expiry in the derivatives segment Thursday, brokers said.

Gains in banking and financial services stocks pushed the markets higher. However, losses in IT and pharma counters capped the upside

Bharti Airtel was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 10.79 per cent, after the company said six global investors, including Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel and SoftBank, have agreed to invest $1.25 billion in Airtel Africa.

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Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened 42 paise to 73.15 (intra-day) against the US dollar in the forex market.

After opening on a strong footing, the Sensex quickly reclaimed the 34,000-mark to scale the session’s high of 34,300.97 in early hours of trade, largely supported by easing crude prices and recovery in the rupee amid positive Asian cues.

However, a sudden sell-off by investors dragged the benchmark into the negative zone. It hit a low of 33,726.07 points before finally concluding 186.73 points, or 0.55 per cent higher at 34,033.96.

The gauge had lost 1,315 points in the past four sessions on weak domestic as well as global factors.

The broader NSE Nifty too recovered by 77.95 points, or 0.77 per cent, at 10.224.75. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,290.65 and 10,126.70

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases worth a net of Rs 116.41 crore, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 340.35 crore Tuesday, provisional data showed.

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“Disappointed by the Q2 results of index heavyweights led by lower margins, market lost the early gains. But in the latter part these losses were recovered due to sharp fall in oil prices and short covering ahead the F&O expiry.

“Additionally, a recovery in rupee and drop in yield is expected to improve the liquidity situation supported by RBIs open market operations,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Shares of oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and IOC gained up to 6.25 per cent on falling global crude oil prices.

Brent crude prices fell 4.37 per cent, its biggest single-day fall in three months, to $76.24 barrel Tuesday. The benchmark oil was trading at $76.72 per barrel Wednesday.

Stocks of aviation companies Spicejet, InterGlobe and Jet Airways too fared better, gaining up to 4 per cent.

Other index gainers included Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Ltd, HUL, L&T, ONGC, ITC Ltd, Vedanta Ltd, Tata Steel, M&M, TCS, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank, spurting up to 3.21 per cent.

Bajaj Auto was the top loser in the index, tumbling 4.30 per cent, after the company Wednesday reported a 5.27 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,256.57 crore for the September quarter.

Kotak Bank ended 0.04 per cent down after the private sector lender Wednesday reported a rise of 21.3 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1,747.37 crore in the second quarter ended September.

Yes Bank, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Infosys, Sun Pharma, RIL, Coal India, PowerGrid and Maruti Suzuki fell up to 4.52 per cent.

Sectorally, the BSE realty index emerged as the top performer, gaining 3.69 per cent, followed by oil and gas 2.21 per cent, consumer durables 1.62 per cent, capital goods 1.19 per cent, metal 1.04 per cent, PSU 0.83 per cent, FMCG 0.55 per cent, infrastructure 0.54 per cent, teck 0.44 per cent, bankex 0.37 per cent and auto 0.22 per cent.

The broader markets too were in a better form, with the BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices rising by up to 1.36 per cent.

Coming to global markets, in the Asian region, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.37 per cent, while Shanghai gained 0.33 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.38 per cent and Korea declined 0.40 per cent.

In Europe, Paris CAC 40 rose 0.71 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.15 per cent, while London’s FTSE gained 0.41 per cent in early deals.