Snapping its two-day fall, the BSE Sensex on Wednesday recovered by 33 points to close at 27,564.66 points on late buying in banking, FMCG and oil stocks after recent falls and hopes of rate cut by the Reserve Bank.
Covering-up of short positions in select stocks in view of May month expiry in the derivatives segment tomorrow and hopes of rate cut by RBI helped the Sensex to close in positive zone, brokers said. The wider 50-issue Nifty of NSE, however, closed down by 4.75 points, or 0.06 per cent at 8,334.60 points.
Cautioned prevailed following disappointing earnings by Tata Motors and Tech Mahindra and overnight sell-off in the U.S. markets on fears about Greek fiscal woes and speculation that the Federal will raise interest rates this year, brokers said.
Market participants are expecting RBI to cut key rates in its June 2 policy meeting as inflation worries has eased, they added. After opening lower at 27,447.40 points, the BSE Sensex continued to slide and touched the day’s low of 27,363.72 points due to sustained selling.
However, the Sensex bounced back following emergence of value buying particularly in banking stocks in the last half-an-hour of trading on hopes of rate cut by RBI. The barometer settled higher by 33.25 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 27,564.66. The gauge had lost 426.09 points in the previous two sessions on lower-than-expected earnings from bluechip firms.
Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth Rs. 114.81 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional the data. BHEL topped gainers’ list by rising 3.34 per cent largely on covering-up of short positions and value-buying, followed by ONGC which rose by 2.70 per cent.
Among banking stocks, Axis Bank rose by 2.26 per cent, HDFC Bank by 1.32 per cent and ICICI Bank by 1.1 per cent. State-run SBI gained 1.23 per cent.
Snapping its two-day fall after lacklustre results, ITC was up by 1.10 per cent. Oil major ONGC gained 2.70 per cent while Coal India was up by 2.11 per cent. Coal India, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tata Power and L&T also posted gains.
