Sensex jumps 184 points to end at over 2-week high

Markets extended gains for the fourth consecutive day tracking gains in banks, capital goods and oil and gas majors.

The Sensex advanced 184 points at 26,103 and the Nifty gained 52 points to trade at 7,792.

In the broader markets, the mid and smallcap index gained over 1% each and outperformed the benchmark index which was up 0.6%.

On the macro front, India’s wholesale price inflation eased to a five-month low in July, helped by a moderation in fuel costs.

The WPI rose 5.19% year-on-year last month, its slowest pace since February. In June, prices rose 5.43% from a year earlier.

Sectors & Stocks

Barring IT index which was down 0.1%, all the other sectoral indices were in green with gains of atleast 0.5%.

Capital Goods, Bankex, Realty, Power, Metal, Consumer Durables and Health Care indices up 1-2% were the top sectoral gainers.

Hero MotoCorp down nearly 3% along with HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, HUL, Wipro and Bajaj Auto down 0.5-1.5% were the major scrips in red among Sensex-30.

Hero MotoCorp dipped after MSCI, in its India index, reduced the two-wheeler major's weightage to 0.62% from 1.24% earlier.

Index heavyweights, ITC, TCS and SBI closed lower by 0.2-0.4%.

Gail India, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Motors, Cipla, Tata Power and BHEL down 2-3.5% were the top losers.

ONGC, L&T, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Sun Pharma down 1.5-2% were the other prominent losers.

In individual names, Abbott India, Wonderla Holidays, Financial Technologies, Marico Kaya, Whirlpool of India, Voltas and Timken India gained 2-20% after reporting robust Q1 numbers.

Dabur India ended up over 3% after MSCI, in its India Index, more than doubled the company's weightage to 0.65% from 0.32% earlier.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1,655 stocks advanced while 1,258 stocks declined.

Markets are closed on Friday for Independence Day.

Global Markets

Asian markets were largely in red with Japan's Nikkei being the only exception, up 0.7%. Shanghai Copmosite down 0.7% and Hang Seng down 0.4% were the major losers.

Meanwhile European markets were in green with CAC, DAX and FTSE adding 0.1-0.4%.