Sensex bounces back with 153-point gain; SBI rises the most

MUMBAI: Bombay stock market, which witnessed four per cent fall last week, today rebound with a 153 point gain in Sensex, driven by strong buying interest in financial scrips amid easing inflation.

After a see-saw session, the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark index, Sensex, ended 152.80 points or 0.76 per cent higher at 20,309.69.

It opened on a smart note but soon fell on profit- booking, but regained momentum as investors saw the October inflation decline — for the second consecutive month — to 8.58 per cent.

Similarly the National Stock Exchange wide-based Nifty too closed with a smart gain of 49.95 points at 6,121.6, after a choppy session.

"Last week's fall gave an opportunity to the investors to buy at lower levels, which led to a rebound on the Dalal Street," SMC Capitals Equity head Jagannathan Thunuguntla said.

Banking stock came to the market rescue and contributed the most in the recovery of the Sensex.

Maximum buying was seen in the country's largest lender, State Bank of India, which snapped last week's losses to end with a gain of 4.41 per cent at Rs 3,164.15. Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank also surged by 2.84 per cent and 1.73 per cent respectively.

"Inflation data for the month of October was in line with the market expectations which primarily triggered the buying in the banking counters," Ashika Brokers Research Head Paras Bothra said.

Pharma giant Cipla saw a jump of 4.15 per and another drug firm Wockhardt soared by 11.3 per cent.

"The surge in the pharma counters is primarily on the anticipation of some deal activities in the sector," Thunuguntla added.

Besides, the IT bellwether Infosys Technologies which ended with a gain of 0.83 per cent, also gave strength to the market. Other software giants Wipro (1.87 per cent) and TCS (0.58 per cent) too ended the day in green.

However, Mahindra Satyam, which will report its June and September quarter numbers today, declined by 1.23 per cent.

Among the 30-Sensex scrips, 20 ended the day in green while rest finished in positive territory, with the country's most valued firm Reliance Industries playing a spoil sport with a loss of 0.74 per cent.

Anil Ambani led Reliance Infra shed 1.69 per cent, becoming the worst performer on the Sensex. Another ADAG firm Reliance Communications, which reported a 40 per cent dip in its second quarter net profit, also slipped by 1.12 per cent on BSE
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