The Hindu Business Line : Sensex buoyed by Fed move, up 447 points

Investors gave a `thumbs-up' to US FOMC (Forward Open Market Committee) decision on rate hike with the BSE-30 Sensex rising by 447.09 points or 4.40 per cent to 10,609.25 points, making this the highest close for the index during this month.

NSE's S&P Nifty rose by 130.3 points or 4.35 per cent to 3,128.20 points.

Dealers said more than the expected 0.25 per cent hike in US interest rates (to 5.25 per cent), what cheered the market was the accompanying statement by the Fed Reserve indicating that a further rate increase in August may not happen.

Global bourses rally

In fact, the Indian markets were guided by global bourses, all of which saw strong rally after the FOMC decision. The US Dow (up about two per cent to 11,190), Japan's Nikkei (2.54 per cent to 15,505.18) and Korea's Kospi (up 2.5 per cent to 1,295.15) showed strong positive sentiment.

"The big question now is whether this rally can be sustained. Except for the FOMC news, all other cues including the rising crude prices are negative," said Mr Pankaj Namdharani, Vice-President, SPA Securities Ltd.

The market breadth was decisively positive with 1,683 stocks ending in the green compared to 685 declining stocks on BSE. Broader BSE-100 and BSE-500 indices also gained by over four per cent. Foreign funds were net buyers for Rs 156.07 crore on Friday, according to provisional figures by NSE.