IMF certificate triggers FII rush to India; Nifty & Sensex top records

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) benchmark 30-share Sensex surged by 358.89 points (1.61 per cent) to a record closing high of 22,702.34 and the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) 50-issue Nifty rocketed by 101.15 (1.51 per cent) points to a new peak close of 6,796.20 on Wednesday. Share brokers said that the strong GDP forecast from one of the Bretton Woods twins might spark a big market rally in the next couple of months. On Wednesday buying support was so strong that 10 of the BSE’s 12 sectoral indices settled the day in positive terrain with banking, metal, pharma, capital goods, realty and auto counters taking the lead. Only IT and Teck finished in the red ahead of the announcement of Infosys’ 4th quarter earnings on 15 April.

Wednesday’s Sensex gain is its biggest in the last one month. The best previous gain was on March 7 when it spurted by 405.92 points. An intense fag-end buying by FIIs pushed the barometer to a fresh record high of 22,740.04 intra-day. The previous all-time high was 22,620.65 logged on April 3 this year. 

Post its Ranbaxy deal, Sun Pharma soared 6.91 per cent to emerge as the biggest Sensex gainer. Among banking shares, Axis Bank rose 4.44 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank (4.18), SBI (3.23) and HDFC Bank (2.61). Among big losers Infosys dropped by 1.16 per cent. ‘Sentiment was upbeat on the IMF’s latest outlook, supported by slightly stronger global growth, improving export competitiveness and implementation of recently approved investment projects,’ Religare Securities President (Retail Distribution) Jayant Manglik was quoted as saying by a news agency.