Sensex Closes Up 146 Points, Nifty 0.61 Pct Higher As IT, Pharma Stocks Rise


MUMBAISnapping a two-session losing run, the Sensex surged 146 points on Thursday to close at 28,301, powered by IT stocks, after bellwether TCS said it will consider a share buyback proposal next week. Value-buying in pharma and other counters and upbeat macroeconomic data also supported the rebound. Sentiment got a lift after the country’s largest software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said its board will meet on 20 February to consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company.

The 30-share Sensex, after opening on a strong note at 28,223.85, succumbed to profit-booking and slipped to hit the day’s low of 28,146.19, before bouncing back to close higher by 145.71 points, or 0.52pct at 28,301.27. It touched an intra-day high of 28,327.84. The gauge had lost 196.06 points in the last two days. The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 53.30 points or 0.61pct to 8,778. Intra-day, it shuttled between 8,783.95 and 8,719.60.

“Positive macro data gave support to buoyant market sentiment. Exports rose 4.32 pct to USD 22.11 billion in January and imports rose 10.7 pct to USD 31.95 billion,” said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, senior fund manager, equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

In the IT space, shares of TCS rallied 1.29pct to Rs2,446.90, while Infosys soared 3.01pct to Rs1,011.90 and Wipro rose 1.36pct to Rs 481.05. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs225.84 crore on Wednesday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Shares of SBI and its associates soared after the Cabinet approved their merger, a step aimed at strengthening the sector through consolidation of public banks. Seeking to create a global-sized bank, the Cabinet on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to the merger plan of SBI and its five associates.

The scrip of State Bank of Mysore soared 4.51pct, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur gained 3.48pct, State Bank of Travancore jumped 3.85pct while SBI gained 0.65pct on the BSE. Sun Pharma, which had been under pressure in the past few sessions on disappointing earnings, emerged as the top gainer among Sensex constituents by recovering 4.31pct to Rs649.30 on value-buying.

A mixed trend at other Asian bourses, tracking another record closing at the US markets yesterday after President Donald Trump reiterated his promise to unveil a tax reform plan soon, too influenced sentiment, brokers said.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.47pct and Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.52pct, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.47pct. European markets, however, were subdued in early deals as London’s FTSE fell 0.44pct, Paris CAC 40 shed 0.29pct and Frankfurt was down 0.22pct.

Read Also:

Start-Up Funding In Maharashtra Down 22 Pct In 2016: News Corp VCCEdge

Indian Smartphone Market Grew 5.2 Pct In 2016: IDC

Source: PTI