Indian markets ended a volatile session higher primarily on the back of strong buying by foreign funds and positive cues from Asian stocks. Markets did slip lower in red with weak European market opening however it soon re-bounced and regained its day’s gains to end higher. Market breadth was strong as on BSE, 1,840 shares rose and 1,058 fell.
The BSE Sensex touched a high of 17,829 and a low of 17,595 before it ended 0.6% or 102 points higher at 17,707. The mid cap and small cap stocks continued to outbeat their large cap peers. Both the BSE Mid-cap and BSE Small-cap indices gained 1.3% and 1.4% higher respectively. The S&P CNX Nifty ended 0.7% or 36 points higher at 5,362.
Besides the Healthcare sector all the other indices on BSE sectoral space advanced. The BSE Healthcare index fell marginally by 0.1% during the day. On the other hand, the BSE Realty index was the highest gainer which grew over 4%. This was followed by the BSE Capital Goods index which also surged by2%. Here the index heavyweights, BHEL and L&T gained 2.9% and 2.1% respectively. Metal stocks continue to surge over rising prices on LME. The BSE Metal index grew by 1.6%. Among the other major gainers were the BSE Bankex and BSE Consumer Durables which grew by 1.3% and 1% respectively.
Among the BSE – 30, 20 stocks advanced while the rest 10 declined. It was Tata Power, HUL, Sun Pharma, GAIL and Reliance Industries which were the top five losers as each fell by 4.4%, 3.5%, 1.8%, 0.7% and 0.6% respectively. On the contrary, the top five gainers were Jindal Steel, BHEL, SBI, Cipla and L&T which rose 3.4%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.2% and 2.1% respectively.
As per the data released by SEBI, Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in equity to the tune of Rs 974 crores while they were net sellers in debt segment to the extent of Rs 259 crores.