Sensex jumps 124 points; SBI, ITC stocks spurt

The Sensex and Nifty ended higher by 0.4 per cent as state-owned lenders such as State Bank of India led the recovery from recent falls, while hopes of positive quarterly earnings also lifted the sentiment.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 123.78 points or 0.4 per cent at 31,369.34 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up 36.95 points or 0.38 per cent at 9,674.55.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index was the star-performer and was up 1.57 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.75 per cent, PSU 0.68 per cent and banking 0.45 per cent. On the other hand, oil & gas index was down 0.38 per cent, consumer durables 0.32 per cent, IT 0.26 per cent and IT 0.16 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were State Bank of India (+2.15%), ITC (+1.72%), Coal India (+1.52%), Bharti Airtel (+1.36%) and Maruti (+1.33%), while the major losers were Bajaj Auto (-1.52%), M&M (-1.3%), Sun Pharma (-1.04%), Axis Bank (-0.93%) and ONGC (-0.77%).

Indexes had fallen in June, snapping a five-month winning run, largely due to sharp falls in state-run lenders amid worries about provisioning levels at a time when the sector is starting bankruptcy proceedings against 12 of the country's largest loan defaulters.

GST rollout, corporate earnings

But sentiment is starting to recover, with a trouble-free roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) adding to hopes of improving corporate profits and stronger economic growth.

“The overall mood in the market is quite positive and expectations of positive quarterly results are making investors make stock-specific moves,” said Deven Choksey, managing director, K.R Choksey Investment Managers.

The Nifty PSU bank index surged as much as 2.8 per cent, advancing for a second session, with Canara Bank Ltd and Syndicate Bank Ltd up more than 3 per cent each.

The sub-index had slumped about 6 per cent in June.

Meanwhile, shares of Punjab National Bank jumped as much as 4.4 per cent after Nomura upgraded the stock to 'Buy' from 'Neutral' on Wednesday.

ITC Ltd, which was down in the last two sessions, rose as much as 2.3 per cent on hopes it would be one of the primary beneficiaries of GST because of the lower tax rates for cigarettes.

Global markets

Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the future pace of US interest rate increases, while oil prices inched higher following a steep decline a day earlier.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2 per cent. Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.3 per cent as a stronger yen depressed the outlook for export earnings.

A steep drop in oil prices dragged energy shares lower and kept the Dow and S&P 500 in check on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq was buoyed by gains in tech stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1 points, or 0.01 per cent, to close at 21,478.17, the S&P 500 gained 3.53 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 2,432.54 and the Nasdaq Composite added 40.80 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 6,150.86.