The Sensex, Nifty rose today, tracking broader Asia after comments from a Federal Reserve official eased worries about faster rate hikes in the United States and sparked a rebound in recently hit sectors such as drug makers. While the Sensex rose 322 pts to 34,142 level, the Nifty closed points 108 points higher at 10,491 level. Top Sensex gainers were Tata Steel (6.26%), Sun Pharma (5.17%), and YES Bank (2.28%).
Of 30 Sensex stocks, 25 closed higher.
Midcaps and small cap indexes rose 239 points and 272 points, respectively.
All sectoral indexes closed higher on the BSE.
BSE metal and bankex indexes led the recovery gaining 469 points and 356 points to 15,327 and 28,535 levels respectively.
“US bond yields have fallen and so sentiment is higher,” said Anita Gandhi, whole time director, Arihant Capital Markets.
“Price correction has happened to a large extent in pharma, so market is looking at some value buying.”
Stock markets have been under pressure recently amid continued worries about the fallout from a $1.77 billion fraud that hit Punjab National Bank, and concerns that the central bank could soon move to raise interest rates to contain accelerating inflation.
The Nifty Pharma index rose 2.64 percent or 233 points in its biggest intraday percentage gain since February 8. It had declined about 8 percent since the start of the year, as of Thursday’s close.
Financials also gained, with HDFC Bank (1.12%) and ICICI Bank (1.46%) among the biggest contributors to the rise.
Federal Bank climbed as much as 5.2 percent after the bank on Thursday approved buying a stake in financial services company Equirus Capital.
Global markets
Shares were mixed Friday, with European stock benchmarks slipping after a day of gains in Asia.
In early trading, Germany’s DAX index edged 0.1 percent lower to 12,454.01 points and France’s CAC 40 lost 0.1 percent to 5,303.40. London’s FTSE 100 was off 0.2 percent at 7,234.96. On Wall Street, the future for the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.3 percent and that for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.2 percent.
ASIA’S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent to 3,289.02 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.7 percent to 21,892.78. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1 percent to 31,267.17 and Seoul’s Kospi rose 1.5 percent to 2,451.52. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 climbed 0.8 percent to 5,999.80 and India’s Sensex was up 0.8 percent at 34,099.90. Benchmarks in New Zealand, Taiwan and Southeast Asia also gained.
WALL STREET: Gains in industrial companies and other sectors outweighed losses in banks and health care stocks. Energy companies rose after crude oil prices recovered from an early slide. Bond yields declined from four-year highs amid fears of higher inflation and interest rates. The S&P gained 0.1 percent and the Dow added 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq declined 0.1 percent.
