Sensex jumps 366 points to snap 3-day losing streak

Benchmark share indices ended over 1.4% higher on Thursday, amid firm global cues, to snap their three-day losing streak led by financials and FMCG shares.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 366 points at 27,275 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 133 points at 8,235.

The Indian rupee was trading higher at Rs 62.66 to the US dollar compared to the previous close of Rs 63.17 track sharp gains in equities.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 1,073.18 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

All the sectoral indices ended in the green. BSE Realty index was the top sectoral gainer up 2.6% followed by Bankex, FMCG, Power, Auto and Capital Goods among others.

Financials witnessed value buying after the sharp correction in the previous sessions. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, SBI and Axis Bank ended up 0.8-2.5% each.

Kotak Mahindra ended nearly 5.5% higher after shareholders of the bank today gave their approval to merge Bengaluru-based ING Vysya Bank with itself. ING Vysya Bank ended up 5.4%.

In the auto segment Tata Motors is set to launch its second model Bolt (a hatchback) on January 22. The stock ended as the top Sensex gainer up 3.4%. M&M and Maruti Suzuki ended up 0.6-1% each.

Hero MotoCorp ended marginally higher while Bajaj Auto ended flat with negative bias. Foreign brokerage CLSA downgraded both the stocks.

IT stocks ended mixed. Infosys ended up 0.7% ahead of its third quarter results due tomorrow while TCS and Wipro ended up 0.5-1.4% each. According to media reports, Wipro has won a $400 million, multi-year IT infrastructure management contract from Swiss engineering giant ABB.

ITC witnessed value buying at lower levels after the stock was beaten down in the recent correction.

ITC was up 2.4% while HUL extended gains to end 2.4% higher after foreign brokerages upgraded the stock.

Coal India ended 0.8% higher amid reports that the five unions have called off their strike.

Among others, shares of paint makers were in demand with most of the frontline stocks trading at their record high on expectation of improvement in operating profit margins due to fall in crude prices.

Berger Paints, Asian Paints and Kansai Nerolac Paints ended up between 4-10% each.

Persistent Systems ended up 1.4% after the board of directors will consider a proposal to issue bonus shares.

SPML Infra gained 5.7% after the company announced that it has won new orders worth Rs 334 crore from Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) for water supply system.

Marico Kaya Enterprises ended in 20% upper circuit after broking firm Motilal Oswal Securities initiated coverage on the stock with a 'Buy' recommendation.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended up 1.8% each.

Market breadth ended strong with 2,050 gainers and 825 losers on the BSE.