Hectic buying activity in banking are realty stocks propelled the Indian stock markets to end on a buoyant note in the last hour of trading today.
The Sensex closed at 19,962, up by 0.8 per cent or 158.13 points higher than yesterdays close. The Nifty index ended 0.84 per cent or 49.25 points higher at 5899.45.
“Though sudden surge in the last hour positively surprised the street, majority still prefer to sit on the sidelines before the outcome of the Fed meet,” said Jayant Manglik, President- Retail Distribution, Religare Securities. In the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting scheduled for today, the central bank is expected to reduce the scale of its bond-buying program.
“The outcome of the FOMC meet will set the opening tone for our markets on Thursday. Importantly, global markets including our domestic bourses have already discounted the stimulus tapering to an extent but any adverse surprise will result in profit taking across the board," said Manglik.
Among sectoral indices, Realty (up 2.03 per cent), Bankex (up 1.56 per cent) and FMCG (up 1.37 per cent) led the charge on the BSE. No sectoral index lost ground today.
On Nifty, DLF, NTPC and Tata Power were the chief gainers while BHEL, Hero MotoCorp and SesaGoa were the main losers.
On the BSE, market breadth was positive with 1210 shares advancing and 1132 declining even as 161 shares remained unchanged.