Sensex rises 163 points; Nifty tops 11,900 level

Extending its gains for the fourth session, equity benchmark Sensex ended 163 points higher on Wednesday, led by index majors HDFC twins and ICICI Bank.

After gyrating 825.54 points in a highly volatile session, the 30-share BSE index ended 162.94 points or 0.40 per cent higher at 40,707.31.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 40.85 points or 0.34 per cent to finish at 11,937.65. It touched an intradday high of 12,018.35.

PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging over 4 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, NTPC, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Bank.

On the other hand, TCS, Nestle India, Reliance Industries and HCL Tech were among the laggards.

Sectorally, Nifty Realty index was the top performer ending with 4.4 per cent gain, while Nifty metal index closed the day in green, up by 2.2 per cent. Nifty Bank index too ended with a gain of 1.3 per cent.

Nifty FMCG is the top laggard of the sectoral indices closing down by 0.94 per cent, while Nifty IT, Media indices closed marginally lower.

The Nifty Midcap index ended 0.23 per cent higher while the Smallcap index ended 0.1 per cent lower.

Market breadth was in favour of gainers with 949 stocks on the NSE ended with gains while 848 posted losses.

“Domestic indices managed to close in the green, but not without its share of hiccups over rumours on waiver of interest on loans,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Banks and metals provided support even as several stocks saw profit booking during afternoon trade, he added.

Bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a positive note, while Shanghai was in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe opened on a negative note after the UK government reported that its borrowing rose to the highest level on record in the first half of the financial year.

In the forex market, the rupee pared its initial gains and depreciated 9 paise to close at 73.58 against the US dollar.