Stock Market Highlights: The key benchmark indices notched-up decent gains in late trades on Wednesday led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The S&P Sensex vaulted 243 points to 61,275, while the NSE Nifty reclaimed the 18,000-mark, settling with gain of 86 points at 18,016.
Earlier in the day, the Sensex slipped to a low of 60,750 tracking weak cues from the Asian peers, as a hotter-than-expected inflation in the US raised fears of more rate hikes. However, the BSE benchmark soon wiped-out losses, and surged to a high of 61,352 – up 602 points from the day’s low towards the fag end of the day.
"The US inflation, though it slowed down compared to the previous month, came in higher than expected at 6.4% YoY. Higher inflation, combined with a strong labour market, has raised concerns that the Fed will remain hawkish for an extended period. Despite a sluggish start in the domestic market, recovery in the IT and auto sectors contributed to a positive finish. A reversal in the FII pattern to net buying has also helped maintain optimism in the domestic market.", said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services in a note.
Among the Sensex 30 shares, Tech Mahindra zoomed nearly 6 per cent to Rs 1,071. Reliance Industries gained 2.2 per cent at Rs 2,431. Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Kotak Bank were the other major gainers. Nestle also moved up a per cent ahead of its Q3 results tomorrow.
READ PREVIEW On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Sun Pharma slipped over a per cent each.
The broader indices also moved in tandem with the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap index advanced 0.7 per cent, and the Smallcap added 0.4 per cent.
Sectorally, the IT, Auto and Realty indices gained over a per cent each. The overall breadth was marginally positive, with nearly 1,800 shares advancing versus 1,670 declining stocks on the BSE.
In the broader markets, Torrent Power soared over 10 per cent to Rs 504 after the company reported a 88 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 695 crore on a YoY basis. The company also announced an interim dividend of Rs 22 per share, including a special dividend of Rs 13 per share.
READ MORE On the other hand, Bharat Forge shed 4.4 per cent a day after reporting weak Q3 performance. The company's overseas operations posted an EBITDA loss of Rs 62 crore in December quarter due to ramp up related issues of the new Al forgings capacities in Germany and the US.
READ MORE "Sensex jumps 243 pts on late buying, Nifty reclaims 18,000; RIL gains 2%")
