Mumbai: Market came good for the third day in a row as the Sensex today leaped 333 points to end at nearly a 3-month high of 27,708 following extensive gains on the back of strong earnings amid positive global cues. The NSE Nifty went past the 8,600-mark for the first time since November 1.
Covering of pending short positions following the expiry of the January derivatives contracts today and positive earnings by some companies aided sentiment. Stock exchanges will remain closed tomorrow for the Republic Day.
After a positive start, the 30-share Sensex rose further as buying activity gathered momentum and hit a high of 27,736.83 before settling 332.56 points, or 1.21 per cent higher at 27,708.14, a level last seen on November 1 when it had closed at 27,876.61.
The gauge had rallied 341.08 points in the previous two trading sessions.
Also, the 50-issue NSE Nifty ended at 8,602.75, up 126.95 points, or 1.50 per cent, after shuttling between 8,612.60 and 8,493.95. Gains were led by banking, metal, auto and consumer durables stocks, lifting key indices.
Mood was upbeat aided by optimism ahead of the Union budget on February 1 amid a firming trend at other Asian and European markets following overnight record close in the US markets on fresh optimism over new US President Donald Trump's economic policies, traders said.
The banking index advanced the most by surging 2.33 per cent, followed by consumer durables (2.26 per cent), oil & gas (1.75 per cent), PSU (1.64 per cent), capital goods (1.53 per cent), realty (1.46 per cent), metal (1.39 per cent) and auto 1.39 (per cent).
HDFC Ltd emerged as the top gainer in the Sensex kitty, climbing 4.31 per cent, followed by Adani Ports (up 3.61 per cent). HDFC Bank surged 1.56 per cent after the company today reported 15.04 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 3,865.33 crore for the December quarter.
Maruti Suzuki too climbed 1 per cent after the company today posted a 47.46 per cent jump in standalone quarterly net profit. Other prominent gainers were Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Coal India, L&T, ITC Ltd, M&M, SBI, TCS, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's and Tata Steel.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel plunged 1.52 per cent on nervous selling after net profit for October-December took an over 54 per cent hit due to a tariff war. Overall, 23 out of the 30-share Sensex pack advanced while others ended in the red.
The broader markets too showed an uptrend, with BSE mid-cap index rising by 0.90 per cent and small-cap 0.87 per cent. Foreign portfolio investors net bought shares worth Rs 93.95 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
Globally, Japan's Nikkei ended up 1.43 per cent and the Shanghai Composite index closed 0.22 per cent higher while Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up 0.43 per cent. Europe too traded strong, with Frankfurt, Paris and London's FTSE rising by up to 1.13 per cent in their late morning deals.
