Mumbai, India (BBN)-The benchmark BSE Sensex surged nearly 200 points on value-buying in recent underperformers but the broader sentiment was cautious ahead of corporate results.
Brokers said that value-buying in recent losers and a firm trend in other Asian markets tracking overnight trends in US and Europe, triggered fresh spell of buying on the domestic bourses in India, reports The Hindu Business Line.
At 1.50 pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 186.72 points or 0.7 per cent at 26,913.27 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 53 points or 0.64 per cent at 8,289.05.
Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas index and metal gained the most by 0.95 per cent each, followed by consumer durables 0.89 per cent and auto 0.8 per cent, while realty index was down 0.42 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Adani Ports (+2.91 per cent), Tata Motors (+2.45 per cent), Asian Paints (+1.72 per cent), Tata Steel (+1.5 per cent) and HDFC Bank (+1.31 per cent), while the major losers were Axis Bank (-1.17 per cent), HDFC (-0.51 per cent), Power Grid (-0.48 per cent), Dr Reddy's (-0.46 per cent) and Cipla (-0.14 per cent).
Tata Motors surged after earlier hitting its highest since November 11 as JLR had said on Monday sales rose 20 per cent to a record last year.
Hero MotoCorp rose as much as 0.93 per cent after declining in the previous two sessions.
Among other gainers, Max Ventures and Industries jumped as much as 17.5 per cent to Rs. 79.40, its highest since July 8. The company said it will sell 22.5 per cent stake to unit of New York Life Insurance Co for Rs. 121 crore ($17.79 million).
KEY EVENTS
The broader NSE index is up 0.61 per cent so far this year, but has moved in a narrow range as investors wait to see how earnings shape up in the latest quarter, given fears about the economic impact from India's move to ditch higher-value notes.
Sentiment was also subdued ahead of India's Budget, scheduled on February 1, and caution ahead of key global events such as Donald Trump's swearing-in as US president later this month.
“Markets are consolidating like they have been in the past couple of weeks and are in a very narrow range as they wait for the quarterly results and for Donald Trump to take over as president of the US,” said Dipen Shah, senior vice president, public client group research, Kotak Securities.
A report by Angel Broking said: "US markets had a mixed session with energy stocks moving downward on lower oil prices.
The NYSE Arca Natural gas Index fell 2.4 per cent, while the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index slid 1.4 per cent.
Lack of economic data as well as upcoming earnings updates from financial giants Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) kept trading activity low during the session.
The FTSE closed positive in spite of negative news regarding Brexit and economic data.
The British pound drifted lower on worries over the likelihood of a "hard Brexit'', after comments by the UK Prime Minister.
British house price inflation accelerated unexpectedly at the end of the year.
House prices climbed 6.5 per cent in three months to December YoY.
This was against an expected inflation of 5.8 per cent."
BBN/SK/AD