Sensex, Nifty regain footing on macro cheers, Turkish lira rebound

Sun Pharma was the best gainer among Sensex components, surging 6.91 per cent

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty on Tuesday regained confidence after two sessions of loss on emergence of buying mainly in financial, healthcare and IT stocks as market participants cheered moderate July inflation numbers and some recovery in Turkish lira assuaged jittery investors globally.

The 30-scrip Sensex rose over 207 points to close at 37,852 and the broader NSE Nifty settled above the 11,400-mark.

In contrast to equities, the Indian rupee on Tuesday crashed below the historic 70-level for the first time and plummeted to the day's low of 70.09, tracking developments in global markets.

However, global equity markets seemed regaining confidence as the threat from the Turkish lira crisis ebbed.

The Turkish currency rebounded from its record low in early trade, strengthening against the US dollar after Turkey's central bank intervention.

Also, domestic market sentiment was buoyed by July inflation numbers.

Wholesale inflation eased to 5.09 per cent in July on account of cheaper food articles, from 5.77 per cent in June. Retail inflation also fell to a nine-month low of 4.17 in July.

Unabated buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and robust corporate Q1 earnings by some blue-chip firms too drove investor sentiment.

Mixed trend on Asian bourses and higher opening in European markets also supported the upmove on domestic bourses.

"Markets reversed yesterday's loss led by broad-based buying across sectors as investors rejoiced the moderation in domestic CPI and WPI inflation despite INR hitting historic low of Rs 70 against USD.

“Pharma & IT sectors outperformed the key indices on account of INR deprecation. Broad based rally is expected to continue as domestic earnings outlook is improving and reversal of FII inflows," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.

The 30-share Sensex, after opening on a strong note, continued its upward march to hit a high of 37,932.40 on value-buying in recent losers.

It lost some ground on profit-booking, before finally ending 207.10 points, or 0.55 per cent, higher at 37,852.

The gauge had lost 379.47 points in the previous two sessions.

The NSE Nifty, after touching a high of 11,452.45, ended 79.35 points, or 0.70 per cent, higher at 11,435.10.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 216.29 crore while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares for Rs 971.86 crore on Monday, provisional data showed.

Sun Pharma was the best gainer among Sensex components, surging 6.91 per cent after the company on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 982.51 crore for the quarter ended June 30.

Tata Steel gained 1.70 per cent as its consolidated net profit jumped more than two-folds to Rs 1,933.80 crore in the April-June quarter of 2018-19.

Other big gainers include Yes Bank 2.87 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.17 per cent, Axis Bank, 2.15 per cent, RIL 2 per cent, HUL 0.98 per cent, Coal India 0.81 per cent, Wipro 0.60 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 0.49 per cent, Bajaj Auto 0.49 per cent, Kotak Bank 0.46 per cent, ITC 0.44 per cent, IndusInd Bank 0.33 per cent, ONGC 0.12 per cent and Tata Motors 0.06 per cent.

In contrast, Hero Motocorp fell 1.29 per cent, L&T 1.19 per cent, Adani Ports 1.03 per cent, Bharti Airtel 0.66 per cent, NTPC 0.47 per cent, Vedanta 0.44 per cent, PowerGrid 0.37 per cent, HDFC 0.23 per cent, M&M 0.21 per cent, HDFC Bank 0.07 per cent, Infosys 0.05 per cent and SBI 0.03 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, healthcare stayed in the lead by rising 2.48 per cent, followed by realty index 1.84 per cent, energy 1.26 per cent, bankex 0.96 per cent, finance 0.67 per cent, FMCG 0.57 per cent, auto 0.55 per cent, consumer durables 0.48 per cent, IT 0.43 per cent, oil and gas 0.37 per cent, teck 0.36 per cent and metal 0.23 per cent.

While capital goods fell 0.51 per cent, followed by infrastructure 0.29 per cent, power 0.14 per cent and PSU 0.10 per cent.

The market rally lifted the mid-cap index by 0.89 per cent and small-cap 0.53 per cent.

Asian shares closed mixed today, as some regional markets bounced back one day after declining over jitters related to economic uncertainty in Turkey.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei ended higher 2.28 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.66 per and Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.18 per cent.

European stocks rose in cautious opening deals today aided partly by rebounding German economic growth, as fears remain over Turkey's currency crisis. In initial deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top blue-chip firms climbed 0.20 per cent.

In the Eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.32 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 added 0.29 per cent.

Domestic stock exchanges will remain closed tomorrow on account of Independence Day.