The benchmark indices on Wednesday rallied for the second consecutive day with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex rising by another 130 points amid a pause in the US interest rate hikes as anticipated.
Initially, the BSE 30-share sensitive index (sensex) touched a low of 10,939.21, but later surged to a strong finish at 11,145.18 over Tuesday's close of 11,014.97, a net rise of 130.21 points or 1.18 per cent.
The National Stock Exchange's (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also advanced further by 42.20 points or 1.31 per cent to 3,254.60 from the previous close of 3,212.40.
Crediting bullish trend largely to impressive first quarter performance by India Inc, stock brokers said bulls as well as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were believed to be heavy buyers of the frontline stocks.
Majority of corporates reportedly have come out with their best quarterly growth rate in three years in the quarter ended June 30, 2006.
The Federal Reserve's decision to leave its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged also was seen as an encouraging development but the tone of the policy statement which left the door open for future rate hikes made investors a bit nervous at the outset, they added.
A firm trend in Asia boosted the market sentiment. The Nikkei ended up by 191.93 points, the Hang Seng by 298.38 points and the Kospi by 3.83 points.
{{/usCountry}}A firm trend in Asia boosted the market sentiment. The Nikkei ended up by 191.93 points, the Hang Seng by 298.38 points and the Kospi by 3.83 points.
{{/usCountry}}FIIs and mutual funds were consistent buyers in equity since August 7. FIIs reported inflows of Rs 195 crore in the Futures on June 8.
Of the total 2,473 traded shares, 1,656 counters closed with advances indicating a positive market breadth. 271 stocks shares touched the upper circuit filter while 76 were stuck in the lower price band at close.
The trading volume increased remarkably but was still low at Rs 2,899.33 crore. RIL clocked the highest turnover of Rs 147.18 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 107.06 crore), SBI (Rs 85.97 crore), Balarampur Chini (Rs 82.13 crore) and India Bulls (Rs 76.90 crore).
The broad-based BSE-100 Index shot up by another 72.77 points to 5,631.55 from previous close of 5,558.78.
The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply up at 1,325.21 and 474.12 at close compared to last close of 1,306.55 and 467.54 respectively. The BSE-500 Index firmed up by 58.80 points to 4,185.15 from previous close of 4,126.35 and the Dollex-30 ended higher at 1,966.30 from 1,943.74.