Markets rally on rupee recovery

Sensex soars 700 pts; Nifty ends above 237 points 

Mumbai: Driven by fall in crude prices and the recovery in rupee, the BSE Sensex on Friday posted its biggest single-day gain in 19 months, soaring over 700 points, as global markets rebounded after two straight sessions of losses. 

The rupee strengthened 53 paise to 73.59 (intra-day) against the US dollar in the forex market. 

Both indices ended the week higher for the first time in six weeks. During the period, the Sensex climbed 366.59 points and Nifty rose 156.05 points. 

After opening on strong footing, the Sensex advanced to hit a high of 34,808.42 on buying momentum after retail investors returned to the market. 

It later gave up some of the gains, but still ended notably higher by 732.43 points, or 2.15 per cent, at 34,733.58. 

The index posted its biggest single-day gain since March 2017. The broader Nifty ended the week at 10,472.50, up 237.85 points, or 2.32 per cent.  

Investors lapped up recently-hammered auto, realty, metal, oil and gas, FMCG, banking, power, infrastructure, IT, auto, and capital goods stocks amid unabated funds inflow by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) ahead of the release of key IIP numbers for August and inflation data for September scheduled later in the day. 

Bear operators, who had been creating short-positions in the past several sessions, were seen covering up positions, brokers said. Maruti Suzuki was the biggest gainer among Sensex scrips, rising 5.89 per cent, followed by M&M up 5.29 per cent. 

TCS was the top loser in the index, with shares falling 3.10 per cent despite posting a record quarterly profit on Thursday. 

Shares of oil marketing remained strong, rising up to 5.36 per cent on falling global crude oil prices. 

Aviation stocks including InterGlobe, Jet Airways and Spicejet also rose up to 6.03 per cent, supported by easing crude prices. 

The BSE auto index took the pole position among sectoral indices, surging 4.01 per cent. Among other sectoral indices, metal index was up 3.83 per cent, realty 3.53 per cent. 

However, IT and teck indices ended down by 0.79 per cent and 0.50 per cent, respectively. The BSE mid-cap index ended higher by 2.63 per cent and small-cap index was up 2.62 per cent.
 
Besides positive factors such as falling crude oil prices and recovery in the rupee, rebound in other Asian markets and European bourses after two sessions of heavy losses, also boosted trading sentiment here, they said.