Sensex settles above 81k

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 147 points to settle above 81,000 level, while Nifty closed above 24,800 following buying in commodity, telecom and consumer stocks amid a firm trend in global markets.

Rising for the third straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 147.89 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 81,053.19, registering gains for the third day in a row.

During the day, it climbed 331.15 points to hit an intra-day high of 81,236.45. Extending gains to a sixth session in a row, the NSE Nifty went up by 41.30 points or 0.17 per cent to end at a two-week high of 24,811.50.

“The domestic market witnessed modest gains owing to the positive global sentiments. Particularly, the recent signs of weakness in the US non-farm payroll data have strengthened the case for potential interest rate cuts in September,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies rose by Rs1.28 lakh crore to Rs4,60,52,462.97 cr (Rs460.52 lakh cr or $5.49 trn). In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge jumped 0.47 per cent, and the midcap index climbed 0.67 per cent.

“Markets are closely monitoring global indices for direction, and the recent pause in US markets ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium is leading to some caution locally also,” added Ajit Mishra, Sr V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd. Among the indices, Telecommunication surged by 1.60 per cent, Commodities by 1 per cent, Consumer Durables by 0.91 per cent, Services by 0.70 per cent, FMCG by 0.59 per cent, Metal by 0.57 per cent and Realty by 0.49 per cent.