Markets soar for 5th straight day, Sensex rallies 553 points
Mumbai: Rising for the fifth straight session, equity benchmark Sensex rallied 553 points and closed at a nearly 10-month high on Friday, tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC twins amid largely positive global market sentiment.
The 30-share BSE index ended 552.90 points or 1.34 per cent higher at 41,893.06, while the broader NSE Nifty surged 143.25 points or 1.18 per cent to 12,263.55.
On January 14, Sensex had closed at a record peak of 41,952.63.
Reliance Industries was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 3.78 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, HDFC twins and Kotak Bank.
On the other hand, Maruti, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement and Nestle India were among the laggards.
According to Hemant Kanawala, Head Equity, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance, Indian markets rallied in sync with its global peers, putting to the backburner the uncertainties in the US Presidential election. They delivered a broad-based performance, with both Nifty and Nifty midcap indices returning 1.5 per cent over the last week.
Sectorally, BSE energy, bankex, finance, realty and consumer durables indices rallied up to 3.16 per cent, while telecom, healthcare and FMCG fell up to 0.92 per cent.
Broader midcap and smallcap indices rose up to 0.54 per cent.
During the week, Sensex soared 2,278.99 points or 5.75 per cent, while Nifty advanced 621.15 points or 5.33 per cent.
Positive global sentiment from the US election, expectation of Fed open market operation and improving economic activities have added optimism in the market, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Markets have surged consistently over the week, and Indian benchmark indices have continued their strong momentum supported by a good set of quarterly numbers and strong foreign fund inflow, he noted.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.93 per cent lower at $40.14 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 5,368.31 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.
