Mumbai: In choppy trade, the benchmark Sensex on Thursday rose 53 points on the back of gains in shares of BHEL, Hindalco and Infosys ahead of quarterly GDP data release on Friday and the RBI's monetary policy review next week. Besides, covering-up of short positions by speculators on expiry of monthly derivative contracts supported buying activity, brokers said.
The BSE Sensex after beginning higher at 28,397.80, struggled to maintain higher levels and slipped to intra-day low of 28,307.58. However, late buying by overseas funds and retail investors helped the index rebound and close with a gain of 52.72 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 28,438.91. During the session, it touched a high of 28,498.30.
The gauge had gained 48.14 points on Wednesday. Easing inflation and falling global crude oil prices, which plunged to four-year low as hopes for output cuts by OPEC faded, raised hopes of a rate cut by RBI at its December 2 monetary policy review, traders said.
Out of the 30-share index, stocks that closed with gains were led by BHEL, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Power, Hindalco, Infosys, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Cipla and Dr Reddy's. The 50-share NSE index Nifty, after reacting to alternate bouts of buying and selling, finally closed at 8,494.20, up 18.45 points, or 0.22 per cent over previous closing.
Intra-day, it touched high 8,506.75 and low of 8,456.35. Sectorwise, the BSE IT index gained the most by rising 1.08 per cent, followed by Power 0.78 per cent, Healthcare 0.64 per cent and Auto 0.35 per cent among others. Buying activity also gathered momentum in midcap and smallcap stocks with both indices rising up to 0.55 per cent.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth net Rs 181.46 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
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