Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex Wednesday recovered by 48 points to end at 28,386.19 on smart rise in bluechips, including ITC and HDFC, coupled with a spurt in realty shares, led by DLF, after government hiked floor area ratio in Delhi.
Others factors that supported markets were expectations of a cut in interest rates next month and short-covering activity ahead of expiry of monthly derivatives, traders said.
Realty counters were at the forefront after Floor Area Ratio in Delhi in respect of plots of 750?1000 sq mt size were enhanced from the present 150 percent to 200 percent while the same has been increased from 120 percent to 200 percent for plots of 1000 sq mt and above.
As a result, sectoral S&P BSE Realty index was the top gainer with a rise of 4.03 percent. Anant Raj, DLF and Unitech shares notched up gains of between 4-10 percent.
Power, Metal and FMCG counters also attracted buying.
ITC rebounded by over 2 percent today, after dropping 5 percent on Tuesday on worries over cigarette norms. HDFC, Sesa Sterlite, M&M, GAIL, BHEL, Hero Moto and Hindalco jumped.
Fall in ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and RIL shares, however, restricted the Sensex's rise.
The BSE 30-share Sensex moved in a range of 28,470.15 and 28,261.31 before closing at 28,386.19, showing a rise of 48.14 points or 0.17 percent. Yesterday, it had slipped 161.49 points or 0.57 percent.
"Led by the Delhi government's decision to increase the Delhi city's floor area ratio by 200 percent, most realty sector stocks saw huge surge in buying activity," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio.
The broad-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also recovered 12.65 points, or 0.15 percent, to 8,475.75.
Second-line shares were in the limelight on good buying from retail investors. The BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap indices closed up by 0.62 percent and 1.12 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,168.94 crore yesterday as per the provisional data.
Most Asian stocks ended higher after Chinese shares extended their rally as insurers led gains. Key benchmark indices in China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan firmed up by 0.03 percent to 1.43 percent while Japan's Nikkei eased by 0.14 percent.
European stock markets were trading higher as commodity producer and financial companies rose. Key indices in France, Germany and UK moved up by 0.10 percent to 0.56 percent.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "Local equities opened in negative as investors turn cautious ahead of the GDP data which is due later this week and RBI monetary policy scheduled next week. However, local indices recovered due to realty stocks".
Sixteen scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended higher while the rest 14 finished lower.
Major gainers included Gail India (2.75 percent), Sesa Sterlite (2.34 percent), BHEL (2.26 percent), Hindalco (2.21 percent) and, ITC (2.14 percent).
Hero Motocorp (1.30 percent), M&M (1.18 percent), HDFC (1.13 percent), NTPC (1.04 percent) and Cipla (0.68 percent) also notched up good gains.
However, Bharti Airtel fell by 2.43 percent, ICICI bank 1.45 percent and Bajaj Auto 0.90 percent among laggards.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Realty rose by 4.03 percent, followed by Power 1.13 percent, Metal 1.08 percent and FMCG 1.07 percent.
The total market breadth turned positive as 1,661 stocks ended with gains, 1,239 closed with losses while 124 ruled steady. The total turnover fell to Rs 2,973.91 crore from Rs 7,291.24 crore yesterday.
