The S&P BSE Sensex surged 364 points to end at 24,607 and the Nifty50 soared 107 points to close at 7,476.
Markets finished higher for the third straight day led by gains in metal shares on rebound in commodity prices while the minimum import price hike on aluminium announced by the government also boosted sentiment.
Also, strength in the Asian peers on the back of strong jobs data helped the rally.
The S&P BSE Sensex surged 364 points to end at 24,607 and the Nifty50 soared 107 points to close at 7,476.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index gained 0.2% while BSE Smallcap index was up 1%. Market breadth was positive with 1433 gainers and 923 losers on the BSE.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 1,438 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
In the overseas markets, Asian shares logged gains on account of firm US jobs data and a uptick in the commodity prices. Japan’s Nikkei, Singapore’s Straits Times and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.3%-1.5%.
STOCKS IN FOCUS
Engineering conglomerate L&T extended gains and was up over 4.5% after the company recently announced that its construction division has won orders worth Rs 2,213 crore.
Metal stocks were the prominent gainers in today’s trade. A senior Research Analyst at a domestic brokerage says “the gains in the metal pack are helped by improvement in the global commodities.
Meanwhile, minimum import price hike of 15% and likelihood of the anti dumping duty that may be announced by the government in the near future is likely to provide some relief to the metal stocks.”
Jindal Steel Vedanta, Hindalco, NMDC, SAIL and NALCO ended up 4%-11%.
Tata Steel received final environment clearance for its Rs 1,877 crore expansion project to be performed at Jamshedpur Steel Works in Jharkhand. The stock surged 7%.
The technology stocks firmed up today. Infosys was up 1.5% after the company in a release said that Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK), a leading retail bank in Kuwait, has selected Finacle to drive its technology transformation.
TCS was up 2.5% after the IT major said that as a new member of the GE Digital Alliance Program, it would develop digital solutions that would increase the productivity of mobile workforces and assets in motion by leveraging Predix, GE’s cloud platform for industrial internet.
Another prominent gainer was Tata Motors. The stock rallied 5.5% after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a strong 25% jump in US sales at 7,929 units in February 2016 against 6,327 units a year earlier. Among its peers, Hero MotoCorp extended gains after the company clocked a double digit growth in two-wheeler sales in the month of February 2016.
The financials closed the session on a flat note. Meanwhile, HDFC gained around 2% after the company decided to raise Rs 2,000 crore via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to fund business needs.
Healthcare major Dr Reddy's Lab is seeking approval from its shareholders for a share buyback for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs. 1,569.42 crore. Shares of Dr Reddy's Lab surged over 5%.
In a move to help oil exploration companies, the government plans to raise natural gas price by about 60% for their undeveloped gas discoveries in difficult areas. ONGC and RIL advanced 1% each.
On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki closed 0.3% lower. The car maker stated that it will raise prices on its vehicles by up to Rs 34,494 to pass on the impact of infrastructure cess announced in the Union Budget.
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