Market Takes a Poll Position, Sensex Surges 301 Points

Mumbai: Unabated buying by domestic institutions propelled the benchmark Sensex beyond the 33,000 -mark on Friday, with FMCG stocks securing a podium finish.

The broader Nifty too put up a strong show by notching up gains of close to 1 per cent.

Buying sentiment was bolstered after opinion polls gave an edge to the BJP in the upcoming Gujarat elections, while upbeat global leads added to the momentum.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing at 33,034.20 and maintained its upward trend to hit the day's high of 33,285.68 before ending at 33,250.30, up 301.09 points, or 0.91 per cent.

The index had rallied 352.03 points in the previous session on value-buying by investors in recently-battered blue-chip stocks.

The Nifty finished the day at 10,265.65, a hefty gain of 98.95 points, or 0.97 per cent, after shuttling between 10,270.85 and 10,195.25.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex gained 417.36 points, or 1.27 per cent, while the Nifty advanced 143.85 points, or 1.42 per cent.

Most Asian and European markets rallied as investors awaited major economic data from China and the US amid overnight gains at Wall Street following reports that President Donald Trump is planning to unveil a big-spending public works plan.

"The buying momentum in Indian markets was given a boost by hopes that the ruling BJP would win the critical state elections in Gujarat, which would lay the groundwork for the general elections in 2019... Stability at a governance level is positive for market sentiment," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 926.68 crore yesterday while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded equities amounting to Rs 1,075.62 crore, provisional data showed.

ITC emerged as the leader of the Sensex pack, with a 3.44 per cent rise, followed by Tata Motors at 2.21 per cent.

Other gainers were Sun Pharma, HUL, Cipla, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Ltd and Tata Steel, gaining up to 2.21 per cent.

In contrast, Hero MotoCorp, SBI, Reliance Industries, TCS, Asian Paint and Dr Reddy's succumbed to profit-booking.

All the sectoral indices ended in the green. The BSE FMCG index topped with a robust 2.23 per cent rise, followed by metal 1.36 per cent, healthcare 1.35 per cent, consumer durables 1.15 per cent, oil & gas 1.02 per cent, auto 0.97 per cent, bankex 0.92 per cent and realty 0.72 per cent.

In keeping with the overall trend, the small-cap and mid indices rose 1 per cent and 0.89 per cent.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.39 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.19 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.55 per cent.

European shares too were in the positive zone in their early deals, with Frankfurt's DAX rising 1.29 per cent and Paris CAC 40 up 0.73 per cent. London's FTSE was up 0.27 per cent.