Sensex recovers 864.13 points, Nifty surges 6.21 pc

Mumbai, Jan 23: After plunging heavily in seven sessions in a row, the Sensex bounced back on a recovery track on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today, gaining 864.13 points, or 5.17 per cent, to close at 17,594.07 on buying interest, triggered on reports of US Fed cut. The Nifty index at the National Stock Exchange also ended the session smartly up by 304.10 points, or 6.21 per cent, higher at 5,203.40 from its previous close of 4,899.30 on similar sentiments.

Reality, Power, oil&gas and bank indices, which were worst hit in the two-day unprecedented crash, recovered smartly and led the rally today. The market surged after two bloody trading sessions on speculation that more funds will be diverted towards emerging markets after an emergency 75 basis points cut in rates was announced by the US Federal Reserve, brokers said.

Moreover, the trading was choppy throughout the day. The Sensex resumed the day on positive note at 17,415.26, gaining 685.32 points from its previous close of 16,729.94 on fresh buyings in most of the stocks and further pared the gain. Sensex also registered its biggest ever intra-day gain of 1267.17 points when it hit day's high of 17,997.11 in mid-afternoon trade today and touched a day low of 16,951.03 in early trade.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 7099 crore today as compared to Rs 6,861.32 crore yesterday. Turnover in NSE's futures&options segment declined to Rs 36073.86 crore from Rs 44307.58 crore yesterday.

Despite a positive rally, the market breadth was negative on BSE as 1401 shares declined as compared to 1302 that rose and 23 shares remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index surged 8.15pc to 7789.31 while the Small-Cap index gained 3.96pc at 10,425.34. European and Asian markets were in a positive note today.

All the sectoral indices on BSE were in the green. Realty index ended up 11.44pc, Power index was up 9.81pc and Oil&Gas index gained 8.73pc and led the rally. Metal index was up 6.85pc, PSU index up 6.77pc, Bankex went up 5.64pc and IT index was up 5.45pc.

Index heavyweights Reliance Energy was the top gainer today as it surged 16.76 pc to Rs 2004 after the company today said it had won a railway project worth Rs 2500 crore from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in a consortium with Spain-based company CAF.

ICICI Bank gained 4.89 pc to Rs 1179.70, National Thermal Power Corporation surged 13.25pc to Rs 222.75 on high volumes of 65.99 lakh shares. As per reports, the company plans to invest Rs 1,729 crore for development of the Jharkhand coal mine.

IT pivotals were on the plus side. Satyam Computers closed 10.25pc up, TCS was up 7.47pc, Infosys gained 2.86pc and Wipro was up 1.43pc.

Banking shares surged on hopes of a rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India following the Fed rate cut. Housing Development Finance Company surged 3.21pc. India's largest lender State Bank of India went up 8.56pc to close at Rs 2344. HDFC Bank jumped 6.83pc to Rs 1538.

Reality shares recovered their losses, Omaxe closed up 41.91 pc, Peninsula Land was up 44.23 pc, Anant Raj Industries gained 20 pc, Parsvnath Developers was up 15.67 pc at Rs 291.90), Ansal Properties and Infrastructure was up 30.80 pc.

UNI