Mumbai: Indian markets continued their strong rebound for the third-straight session as investors poured back into beaten-down stocks with the benchmark Nifty reclaiming the 8,300-mark on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Upbeat global mood in the wake of the US Fed's statement last week and a bounce in oil prices mainly provided much of the impetus to extend rally. Mounting optimism that the government will unleash more economic reforms to unleash higher growth, providing additional boost.
After overcoming the initial hiccups and volatility ahead of expiry of the December derivative contracts, benchmark indices broke out of the range-bound trade in late afternoon trade and surged way ahead of finish the session on a healthy note.
"With the overall improvement in global market sentiment after recent turbulence with greater stability in crude oil prices along with a supportive Federal Reserve, there is more room left in the run-up to the year-end rally", a floor trader commented.
The broader 50-share index jumped by a hefty 98.80 points, or 1.20 percent, to conclude at 8,324 after swinging widely between a high of 8,330.95 and a low of 8,228.20 during the session. As many as 43 of the 50-Nifty shares posted strong gains.
FMCG shares were in the limelight on strong buying interest from funds and retailers, with the sectoral indices surging by 1.52 percent predominantly led by heavy weight ITC and Hindustan Unilever, followed by financials (1.45 percent), auto (1.45 percent), metal (1.35 percent), energy (1.26 percent) and realty (1.26 percent) even as mid-cap and small-cap spiked over 1 percent.
However, healthcare, infra and technology witnessed some profit-taking after recent rally.
The prominent movers included HDFC, HDFC Bank, M&M, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Axis Bank, SBI, Coal India, Kotal Bank, Reliance, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Gail, BHEL, Lupin, Sun Pharma, Cairn, Heromotoco, Dr Reddys and Maruti.
Among the key losers were Hindalco, ZEEL, L&T, HCL-Tech, Tata Steel and PNB.
Turnover in the cash segment skid to Rs 12,524.32 crore against Rs 18,293.49 last Friday. A total of 6,386.10 lakh shares changed hands in 60,48,373 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 95,18,174 crore.
