Indian stocks rose on Thursday, snapping a three-session losing streak, in line with global markets as speculation US interest rates may not rise at all this year left the dollar nursing hefty losses and oil held most of the previous day's big gains.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 115.11 points or 0.48 per cent at 25,338.43 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended up by 42.2 points or 0.57 per cent at 7,404.
Barring healthcare and realty, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. Among them, metal index was up 2.48 per cent, followed by capital goods 1.93 per cent, IT 0.92 per cent and consumer durables 0.86 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was down 1.56 per cent and realty 0.3 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were ONGC (+3.28%), Asian Paints (+2.93%), L&T (+2.58%), Adani Ports (+2.24%) and Infosys (+1.88%), while the major losers were Lupin (-2.8%), NTPC (-2.14%), Cipla (-1.98%), State Bank of India (-1.81%) and Bajaj Auto (-1.62%).
Crude oil futures extended gains from the previous session as a weaker dollar and unconfirmed talk of producers potentially meeting to discuss output cuts lifted the market despite record U.S. stocks due to overproduction.
A report by SMC Global said: "Most Asian markets traded up today, following a mostly higher finish on Wall Street overnight. US stocks whipsawed to end higher Wednesday, buoyed by a rally in energy and materials companies. The US dollar posted its biggest declines in months against the euro and the yen amid worries about weak economic growth. Growth in the US service sector slowed in the month of January, the Institute for Supply Management revealed in a report released on Wednesday. The ISM said its non-manufacturing index dropped to 53.5 in January from an upwardly revised 55.8 in December, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 55.5 from the 55.3 originally reported for the previous month."
Stocks advanced in Europe and Asia on Thursday, with the focus on energy companies as speculation US interest rates may not rise at all this year left the dollar nursing hefty losses and oil held most of the previous day's big gains.