Sensex holds 28,000, Nifty tops 8,600 on BoE stimulus push 

Mumbai: Falling in line with strong global cues after the Bank of England (BoE) announced a rate cut and fresh stimulus, the key domestic market indices rallied on Friday. Short covering coupled with a firm rupee further lifted the indices.

Registering its single biggest gain since July, BSE Sensex skyrocketed close above 28,000, helped by auto and oil and gas. BSE Sensex rose 363.98 points or 1.31 percent to 28,078.35 points. Sensex gained 499.79 points on July 11.

Strong global cues after the Bank of England (BoE) announced a rate cut and fresh stimulus, the key domestic market indices rallied on Friday. Short covering coupled with a firm rupee further lifted the indices.

The broader NSE Nifty retook the crucial 8,600-mark and hit a high of 8,689.40 before ending at 8,683.15 points, a net gain of 132.05 points or 1.54 percent. For the week, both indices, Sensex and Nifty rose 26.49 points, or 0.09 per cent, and 44.65 points, or 0.51 per cent, respectively.

Trading in the green throughout the day. Sensex had gained 16.86 points in Thursday’s choppy session.

Investor sentiment got a shot in the arm after the long-pending indirect tax reform Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and is likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on August 8.
Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service said the GST implementation will be positive for the country’s economic growth without any significant impact on inflation.

Investor sentiment got a shot in the arm after the long-pending indirect tax reform Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and is likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on August 8. Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service said the GST implementation will be positive for the country’s economic growth without any significant impact on inflation.

India’s benchmark Sensex and Nifty Indices gained over one percent each led by gains in the banking and metal companies. However, investors are cautious ahead of the US non-farm payrolls data due later on Friday. Investors are also cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank (RBI) of bi-monthly policy due on 9 August.

According to rating agency ICRA, RBI may not cut rates in this policy, but a 0.25 percent cut is on cards this year. It said the RBI is expected to keep rates unchanged for now as CPI inflation at around 5.8 percent in June is close to upper end of RBI’s target of four percent (+/-2%).

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 559.49 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Most Asian markets remained firm, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising 1.44 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei ended steady.
European indices advanced in early session after the Bank of England announced a post-Brexit interest rate cut and a larger than expected stimulus package while investors awaited key US non-farm payroll data.

London’s FTSE was up 0.40 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 0.20 per cent and Paris CAC gained 0.4 per cent.
Hero MotoCorp topped the gainers list among BSE stocks by surging 5.02 per cent to Rs 3,434.30 while Bajaj Auto climbed 4.38 per cent to Rs 2,859.85.
Other major gainers were Axis Bank, Tata Motors, SBI, M&M, L&T and Adani Ports.

Sun Pharma, however, emerged as the top loser with a fall of 0.79 per cent, followed by Power Grid (0.67 per cent). IT majors Wipro, Infosys and TCS saw profit booking and fell by up to 0.65 per cent.
As many as 23 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended higher.

Broader markets too were in a fine form, with the mid-cap and small-cap firming up 1.69 per cent and 1.47 per cent, respectively, on increased buying by investors. Among the BSE sectoral indices, auto rose the most by 3.14 per cent followed by oil & gas 2.74 per cent, metal 2.56 per cent, capital goods 2.34 per cent, PSU 2.17 per cent, banking 2.05 per cent and realty 2.04 per cent. IT fell 0.15 per cent.

Source: PTI / IANS