Markets cheer Rajan's maiden steps; Sensex up 400 pts

Indian markets surged and rupee staged a swift recovery after the new RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's initial announcements sparked hopes of shoring up an ailing economy and currency.

Adding to the sentiment, Finance Minister, Chidambaram said that fiscal deficit target of 4.8% of GDP in 2013/14 is a red line which will not be crossed.

At close, the Sensex was up 412 points or 2.2% at 18,980 and the Nifty gained 145 points or 2.6% to close at 5,593. This was the highest closing over the last three weeks.

In the broader markets, the mid and smallcap indices gained 1.5% each, but underperformed the BSE benchmark index which was shot up 2.2%.

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Global Markets

Asian stocks rose to three-week highs on Thursday as Indian shares and the rupee rallied a day after the country's new central bank chief unveiled measures to support the currency and the banking sector.

But worries the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon scale back stimulus kept markets in check. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.6%, having earlier hit a high last seen on August 19.

Tokyo's Nikkei closed a touch firmer, having lost a bit of steam after hitting a one-month high.

Mirroring Asia's performance, European markets started with modest gains but quickly lost steam. FTSE was flat with a negative bias, DAX was down 0.2% while CAC edged higher by 0.3%.

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Rupee

The rupee ended at 66.01 versus US dollar, up 106 paise or 1.58 per cent.

Earlier in the day, the rupee appreciated after the new RBI governor Raghuram Rajan lifted market sentiment on Wednesday by announcing a slew of measures.

The rupee opened at Rs 66.10 compared with previous close of Rs 67.09 per dollar. It rose as much as 2.3% to 65.53 per dollar, well off the record low 68.85 hit on August 28.

Sectors & Stocks

Back home, BSE Bankex index zoomed by over 9% followed by counters like Consumer Durables, Realty, PSU, FMCG, Capital Goods, Power and Oil & Gas, all gaining between 2-5%.

However, BSE IT and Health Care indices slumped by 2-3%. 

Banking shares on a roll on the bourses after RBI announced a slew of measures to benefit retail investors and revive the Indian economy.

YES Bank, Axis Bank and Federal Bank gained 12-21% and were the movers in the banking space.

Other banks like IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India rallied 7-10%.

From the Oil & Gas space, ONGC and Reliance Industries were up 5% and 1.4% respectively.

FMCG Majors ITC and HUL added 2-4%.

Among the auto names, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp gained 1-2%.

BHEL, L&T and Coal India up 4-8% were the other notable gainers.

Meanwhile, shares of IT companies ended lower in otherwise firm market after the Indian rupee strengthens against the US dollar.

Among the individual stocks, TCS, Infosys and Wipro dipped 3% each.

Metal names- Sesa Goa, Hindalco and Tata Steel were down 0.5-4%.

Gail India, M&M, Sun Pharma, Tata Power and Cipla closed in the negative, losing 0.2-1.5%.

The market breadth was very positive. 1,487 stocks advanced while 849 stocks declined on the BSE.