In a volatile trading, the BSE benchmark Sensex today surged for the third session in a row, rising almost 72 points to close at 18,273.80 on capital inflows by foreign funds as blue-chips, led by RIL, were available at attractive values.
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex, which gained nearly 740 points in the previous two sessions, gathered another 71.60 points to 18,273.80 supported by a strong comeback by most-weighed Reliance Industries stocks.
The gauge moved between 18,361.66 and 18,050.48 during the session, showing volatile movements in stocks.
In a similar fashion, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty shot up by 25 points to 5,481 after crossing the psychological mark of 5,500 points to touch the session’s high of 5,506.50 and a low of 5,408.35.
Brokers said that apart from sustained buying by foreign funds and retail investors, hectic short-covering in the recently beaten oil and gas, banking and auto sector stocks was also responsible for the ongoing rally in the market.
RIL, which had been trading in the negative zone during the past several sessions, bounced back on emergence of buying at prevailing levels and ended 2.9 per cent to Rs 941.75.
Tata Power, the largest power producer in the private sector, gained 2.14 per cent to Rs 1,267.90 on a flurry of buying, triggered by a three-fold increase in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2010, while State Bank of India, the country’s biggest lender, surged 1.38 per cent to Rs 2,728.40.
Tata Motors’ shares ended 2.41 per cent higher at Rs 1,237.85 after its global sales increased 16 per cent in January.
The oil and gas sector gained the most, up by 1.85 per cent to 9,497.05, followed by banking index 1.53 per cent to 12,429.32. The PSU index gained 1.1 per cent to 8,637.79, auto index 0.71 per cent to 8,875.58 and power index by 0.14 per cent to 2,639.59 points.
However, capital goods sector index, which had been rising in the past two sessions, fell by 1.75 per cent to 13,068.59 as BHEL and Larsen and Toubro succumbed to profit-booking. The realty sector index also shed 1.33 per cent to 2,112.90 and the IT sector index closed lower by 0.40 per cent to 6,245.08.