New Delhi, India (BBN)-The BSE benchmark Sensex snapped three-day losing streak on Tuesday on the back of buying in banking, auto and power stocks.
The 50-share Nifty closed above its 200-day moving average of 8,250 owing to gains in ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, BPCL, Bharti Airtel and State Bank of India, reports NDTV.
According to Motilal Oswal, the Nifty gained over half a per cent as recent Q4 numbers showed improvement amid compelling valuation.
The Indian markets had been facing the heat of selling pressure since quite some time now.
The Sensex fell over 1,800 points in the last nine trading sessions while the Nifty plunged 900 points (10 per cent) from its peak in March 2015.
Meanwhile, the Sensex jumped over 150 points in the morning deals but gave up all the gains to trade on a flat note because of selling in ITC, Infosys, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro.
However, today's rally was led by the banking stocks, which were in high demand today.
The banking sub-index on the NSE, Bank Nifty settled 2.7 per cent higher. ICICI Bank was the top Nifty gainer, the share of India's largest private sector lender surged over 8 per cent to close at Rs 326.85 a day after the company reported its fourth quarter numbers.
Federal Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of India, Yes Bank, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank also ended 1.5-4 per cent higher.
Auto stocks also saw buying interest.
The CNX auto index jumped 2.4 per cent on the back of gains in Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.
Maruti SUzuki jumped 5 per cent to fresh 52-week hgh of Rs 3,838.80 after the company reported robust set of fourth quarter numbers which were better than what the analysts had anticipated.
Ashok Leyland, Exide Industries, Bharat Forge, Eicher Motors and Tata Motors also closed on a positive note.
On the other hand, IT and FMCG stocks faced selling pressure in trades today.
The BSE IT index slipped 0.4 per cent and the FMCG index ended 0.7 per cent lower.
HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro and TCS were among the losers from the IT space.
The mid-cap and small-cap stocks also jumped in trades today. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 1.5 per cent and the small-cap index gained 1.4 per cent.
The Sensex finally ended 219 points higher at 27,396 and the Nifty advanced 72 points to close at 8,286.