Benchmark indices closed sharply higher after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced initiatives to boost bilateral trade and investment and global cues indicated positive trends.
The Nifty closed at 8,115, up 1.75 per cent or 139 points, while the Sensex closed at 27,112, up 481 points or 1.81 per cent. Though both opened in the red, they later changed direction to move northwards.
Arun Kejriwal, Founder, KRIS Research, said, “This time it is a birthday gift for the Prime Minister and the country from China. Market expectations from the Prime Minister’s forthcoming US visit will start rising and this could lead to a new all-time high for the benchmark indices in the next couple of trading sessions. However, at every new high, caution needs to be exercised.”
Foreign institutional investors net sold equities worth ₹10 crore, though their turnover during the day was over ₹6,700 crore. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth ₹84 crore logging a turnover of over ₹3,200 crore. Retail investors on the BSE net sold equities worth ₹136 crore.
Marketmen were positive on cooling global commodity prices.
Kotak Institutional Equities in its India Strategy report, said, “Lower commodity prices may partly offset inflationary pressure in the food and services segments of the CPI. A prolonged slump in commodity prices may result in lower-than-expected inflation even after base effect peters out towards the end of 2014. Also, lower crude oil prices will result in a lower current account deficit (CAD) and fiscal deficit; we assume $107.5/bbl and $105/bbl (dated Brent basis) for FY2015 and FY2016. Also, this may provide some respite to the rupee against a potential tightening by the US Fed and ongoing dollar appreciation.”
Market capitalisation of over ₹35,000 crore was added on Thursday with all the broader and sectoral indices closing in the green. The volatility index India Vix closed 4.81 per cent down at 12.3250.
Hero MotoCorp, L&T, DLF, BPCL and BHEL were the top five Nifty gainers while Infosys, HUL, Sesa Sterlite and Tech Mahindra were the losers.