Bourses snap four-day decline, Sensex rises 317 points on gains in auto & pharma stocks

Mumbai: Stock markets snapped the four-day falling streak on Tuesday with the benchmark Sensex rebounding by 317 points on buying in auto and pharma shares amid a decline in retail inflation to a more than six-year low, nearing the RBI’s comfort zone.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 317.45 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 82,570.91.

The 50-share NSE Nifty edged higher by 113.50 points or 0.45 per cent to 25,195.80.

In the last four trading days, the Sensex dropped 1,459.05 points or 1.74 per cent and the Nifty declined by 440 points or 1.72 per cent.

Among Sensex firms, Sun Pharma, Trent, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Finance were the major gainers.

However, HCL Tech declined 3.31 per cent after the IT services firm reported a 9.7 per cent drop in consolidated net profit for the June quarter, hurt by higher expenses and the one-time impact of a client bankruptcy.

Eternal, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank were also the laggards.

The BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.95 per cent and midcap index went up by 0.83 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, auto (1.48 per cent), healthcare (1.14 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.89 per cent), FMCG (0.80 per cent), realty (0.77 per cent) and services (0.58 per cent) were the gainers.

Utilities emerged as the only laggard.

As many as 2,576 stocks advanced while 1,479 declined and 160 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.17 per cent to $69.09 a barrel.