Market logs 2nd gain in 10 sessions; Sensex soars 295 points

The broader Nifty, after touching a high (intra-day) of 10,555.50 points, finished at 10,539.75, up 84.80 points, or 0.81 per cent.

Domestic equities managed their second gain in last ten sessions and recovered from two back-to-back weekly declines on Monday, with Sensex surging nearly 295 points and Nifty 85 points as investors turned towards recent battered stocks for value-buying amid positive global cues.

Besides, strong corporate earnings and expectations of some moderation in retail inflation numbers - to be released after market hours on Monday - also added to sentiment revival.

Investors heavily bought into recently battered power, realty, capital goods and banking stocks amid continued buying by domestic funds and retail investors.

In the Sensex pack, shares of Tata Steel emerged best performer by climbing 4.22 per cent after the company reported 5-fold jump in third quarter net profit.

Recently over-sold healthcare counters rebounded, even as public sector State Bank of India tumbled after registering a surprise quarterly loss.

"Market reversed from previous day's losses owing to positive global cues and expectation of marginal decline in January CPI inflation today.

“Mid and small cap outperformed the benchmark indices as investors start accumulating the over sold stocks. The economy is forecasted to improve in the long-term with strong earnings growth...," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.

A firming trend on Asian and European bourses following a good show by Wall Street on Friday too lifted mood of investors in domestic markets.

Oil prices were up after sinking on Friday for a sixth straight day and the rupee also appeared to be on the recovery path, adding to revived sentiments.

After opening on a strong footing, the Sensex advanced to hit a fresh high of 34,351.34 on the back of continued buying by domestic funds and retail investors but later declined to 34,115.12 on profit booking.

It finally settled 294.71 points, or 0.87 per cent, higher at 34,300.47.

The index had lost 407.40 points, or 1.18 per cent, to settle at a one-month low of 34,005.76 on Friday, weighed by weak global stocks.

The broader Nifty, after touching a high (intra-day) of 10,555.50 points, finished at 10,539.75, up 84.80 points, or 0.81 per cent.

Brokers said sustained buying by domestic institutional investors ahead of inflation data improved the market sentiment.

Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 588.42 crore while foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 1,351.70 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

Tata Steel on February 9 had reported a five-fold rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,135.92 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.

It had posted consolidated net profit of Rs 231.90 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Tata Communications also ended 1.71 per cent higher after the company posted a net profit of Rs 10.12 crore for the December quarter, a fraction of what it earned in the year-ago period as some of its operations were sold and discontinued.

Tata Motors closed higher by 0.88 per cent after the company on Friday had reported a 20 per cent increase in global sales, including that of Jaguar Land Rover at 1,14,797 units.

Larsen and Toubro rose by 1.63 per cent after it announced a Rs 2,200 crore order win by its wholly-owned arm L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering from Abu Dhabi-based Al Dhafra Petroleum Operations Company Limited.

Other prominent gainers included Yes Bank, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Heromotocorp, RIL, HDFC LTD, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paint and Sun Pharma, rising by up to 2.89 per cent.

SBI, however, dropped 2.67 per cent following poor quarterly results.

The PSU lender on Friday posted a net loss of Rs 1,886.57 crore after a massive under-reporting of dud assets in the past fiscal and reverses in treasury operations.

Sector-wise, the upmove was driven by power (up 1.87 per cent), realty (1.73 per cent), capital goods (1.65 per cent), infrastructure (1.47 per cent), healthcare (1.18 per cent), auto (1.06 per cent), metal (1.01 per cent), banking (0.68 per cent) and oil & gas (0.62 per cent).

IT and teck ended in the negative zone, falling up to 0.43 per cent.

The BSE small-cap index higher by 1.60 per cent and mid-cap index ended up 1.31 per cent.

Global investors, however, were still fretting about the risks from looming US inflation data after last week's sharp sell-off.

Trading was brisk across global markets.

European markets were higher in early trade, with Frankfurt's DAX rising 1.95 per cent and Paris CAC 40 up 1.59 per cent. London's FTSE too rose 1.26 per cent.

The stock markets will remain closed on Tuesday, February 13, on account of 'Mahashivratri'.

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters