Mumbai: Indian indices on Thursday (January 9) managed to recoup its weekly losses and ended higher amid easing US-Iran tensions. The Sensex closed 634.61 points higher or 1.55% at 41,452.35, while Nifty ended up 190 points or 1.58% at 12,215.40. Major gainers on the Nifty were JSW Steel, Bharti Infratel, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank, while TCS, Coal India, HCL Technologies, Britannia Industries, and GAIL were top losers.
About 1794 shares advanced, 759 shares declined, and 195 stocks remain unchanged. Except for IT, all other sectoral indices ended higher led by the PSU bank, infra, auto, metal, energy, FMCG and pharma.
During early hours today, equity benchmark parameters edged higher in the wake of remarks by US President Donald Trump that eased fears of a larger conflict with Iran. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 404 points to 41,221 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 126 points at 12,151. Except for Nifty IT which dipped slightly, all sectoral indices were in the positive zone.
Among stocks, Bharti Infratel advanced by 4.6 per cent at Rs 247.25 per share to emerge as the top performer. Metal majors JSW Steel and Tata Steel gained by 3.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent, while IndusInd Bank moved up by 2.4 per cent, ICICI Bank by 1.9 per cent and State Bank of India by 1.8 per cent.
The other prominent gainers were Zee Entertainment, Tata Motors, UPL and Adani Ports, but IT majors Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and HCL Technologies showed marginal losses.
On Wednesday, the Sensex closed 52 points lower at 40,817.74 while the broader Nifty settled at 12,025.35, lower by 27.60 points down 0.23 per cent. The Sensex after witnessing a fall of 400 points recovered in the wake of Iran's statement that its strike on US facilities in Iraq didn`t mean it was seeking a war.
Asian stocks rebounded and oil prices edged up as the United States and Iran backed away from the brink of further conflict in the Middle East.
MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1%, as did Hong Kong`s Hang Seng and Shanghai blue chips reversing Wednesday`s losses. Japan`s Nikkei rose 1.8%, lifting stocks to their highest for the year so far, while Australian stocks climbed 1% to just below December`s record high.
Investors quit the safe-haven Japanese yen, sending it sliding from a three-month high to a two-week low of 109.25 yen per dollar.
(With Agency Inputs)
