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Indian shares rose for a second consecutive session on Wednesday led by value-buying in blue-chips on hopes that the defeat in Delhi elections may prompt faster reforms by the Modi Government through the upcoming federal budget.
An upstart anti-establishment party crushed India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in a Delhi state election on Tuesday, smashing an aura of invincibility built around Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he swept to power last year.
Markets rallied on expectations that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will boost capital spending and offer tax breaks to an under-performing manufacturing sector in the federal budget on February 28.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex jumped 178.35 points or 0.63 per cent to end at 28,533.97 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty rose 61.85 points or 0.72 per cent at 8,627.40.
All BSE sectoral indices ended significantly in the green. Among them, capital goods index gained the most by 2 per cent, metal 1.68 per cent, healthcare 1.25 per cent and power 1.16 per cent.
Major Sensex gainers were Axis Bank 2.87%, L&T 2.57%, Maruti 2.1%, Tata Steel 2.08% and Reliance 2.07%, while the top five losers were ONGC 2.63%, BHEL 2.41%, Tata Motors 0.9%, M&M 0.81% and Cipla 0.5%.
A report by SMC Investments and Advisors said: "Asian stocks remained mixed as currencies weakened and ECB showing little signs of a solution. US stocks gained on giants like Apple Inc. as investors wait to see ECB future roadmap.US wholesale inventories inched up by 0.1 per cent in December after climbing by 0.8 per cent in November. Economists had expected inventories to edge up by 0.2 per cent. The modest uptick in inventories came as a 0.2 per cent increase in inventories of durable goods was partly offset by a 0.1 per cent drop in inventories of non-durable goods."
European stocks and the euro fell on Wednesday while the dollar edged higher as euro zone meetings on the Greek debt crisis threatened to give rise to confusion rather than clarity.
Euro zone finance ministers will meet on Wednesday and EU leaders on Thursday, but officials are already playing down chances of a breakthrough.
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