Mumbai: Snapping a two-day fall, equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty on Tuesday logged their best gains in almost two weeks to rebound in the final hour led by buying in bluechips including RIL, ICICI Bank, ONGC and L&T shares, amid slight recovery in rupee and marginal drop in oil prices.
The BSE 30-share gauge resumed almost stable and moved in a narrow range till 2:00 pm, but a sudden gust of buying after mid-session pushed the Sensex higher and settled at 25,521.19, a rise of 330.71 points or 1.31 percent. In two sessions of losses, it had plunged by 385.73 points or 1.51 percent.
The wide-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also bounced back by 98.15 points, or 1.30 percent, to close at 7,631.70.
For both indices, today's rise was their best since June 6 when Sensex surged 376.95 points and Nifty by 109.30 points.
Smart rise in index-based counters like RIL, ICICI Bank, ONGC, L&T, SBI, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, BHEL, Gail India and Maruti Suzuki helped.
Buying was so strong that 11 out of 12 BSE sectoral indices closed with gains while only FMCG finished with minor losses. Oil&Gas, banking, capital goods, power and metal indices were at the forefront, say dealers.
Asian markets were mixed Tuesday, following a tepid lead from Wall Street ahead of a US Federal Reserve policy meeting, while oil edged down a touch from nine-month highs as traders nervously watch the crisis in Iraq.
In the afternoon US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell 39 cents to USD 106.51 a barrel in afternoon trade, while Brent crude for August declined 42 cents to USD 112.52.
Besides largecap stocks, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices also rose on good demand from retail investors.
The rupee recovered from six-week low of 60.51 against the US dollar to trade at 59.95 in late afternoon.
Dipen Shah, Head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities, said: "The market rise was surprising and likely a result of some fund buying in the large cap stocks."
Additionally, positive statement by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on readiness to deal with any external shocks arising due to ongoing Iraq crisis boosted sentiments.
Global attention has turned to the Fed's policy meeting that wraps up on Wednesday. Expectations are for the bank to cut a further USD 10 billion from its monthly stimulus spending and keep interest rates at record lows.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "Investors will also lookout for the FOMC meet that will begin tonight for two days. Most of experts believe that the Federal Reserve will cut monthly fiscal stimulus by another USD 10 billion to USD 45 billion".
Asian stocks ended narrowly mixed as the double-whammy of a deepening conflict in Iraq and a gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia somewhwat sapped investors' risk appetite.
Key benchmark indices in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan finished with gains while from China, Hong Kong and Singapore ended with losses.
European stocks, however, were trading firm in their late morning deals on hopes of improvement in German investor confidence in June. France's CAC was up by 0.39 percent, Germany's DAX by 0.84 percent and the UK's FTSE by 0.29 percent.
Back home, 24 out of the 30-share Sensex scrips finished higher while others concluded lower. Major gainers were ONGC (4.07 percent), Axis Bank (3.79 percent), SBI (2.91 percent), Coal India (2.89 percent), BHEL (2.84 percent), Sesa Sterlite (2.76 percent) and Gail India (2.55 percent).
Reliance Industries (2.39 percent), ICICI Bank (2.36 percent), Tata Motors (2.26 percent), L&T (2.05 percent), Bharti Airtel (1.80 percent), Maruti Suzuki (1.72 percent), Tata Steel (1.38 percent), NTPC (1.24 percent), Tata Power (1.09 per cent) and Hindalco Industries (1.02 percent) also finished among the Sensex winners.
However, M&M fell by 1.77 percent, followed by Hero Motocorp 0.83 percent, and Dr Reddy's Lab 0.58 percent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Oil&gas gained 2.86 percent, followed by Bankex 2.28 percent, Capital Goods 1.93 percent, Power 1.88 percent and Metal 1.59 percent.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 194.10 crore yesterday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Total market breadth turned positive as 2,046 stocks closed with gains while 953 finished with losses. Total turnover rose to Rs 3,790.44 crore from Rs 3,423.29 crore yesterday.
