The Indian benchmark BSE Sensex snapping its three-session losing streak and rallied 490 points Wednesday as investors piled into index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC duo, Infosys, ITC and ICICI Bank. On the sectoral front, except auto, all other sectoral indices are ended in green led by IT, energy, bank, metal, pharma, infra and FMCG. Equity markets in Asia faltered on Wednesday amid losses in South Korea and uncertainty over China’s plans for further stimulus as the economy shows signs of regaining its footing. In Asia, benchmark equity indices in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul ended in the red. European equites started off on a mixed note. Among individual stocks, the shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) hit a 6-month high of Rs 170, up 4 per cent, in intra-day trade on Wednesday, and ended the day at Rs 168.35, a gain of 2.81 per cent, on the expectations of strong earnings in the January-March quarter (Q4FY19).
The 30-share index settled at 39054.68 up by 489.8 points or by 1.27 per cent and then NSE Nifty was at 11726.15 up by 150.2 points or by 1.3 per cent. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 39095.35 and intraday low of 38571 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 11740.85 and intraday low of 11578.85.
The top gainers of the BSE Sensex were HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 1140.50,+3.40%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 168.70,+2.90%), IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1700.15,+2.75%), YES Bank Ltd. (Rs. 239.15,+2.71%), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 324.50,+2.62%), among others. On the flip side, the top losers of the BSE Sensex were Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 223.70,-3.33%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 108.00,-3.18%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 2621.15,-0.60%), Coal India Ltd. (Rs. 254.10,-0.49%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 191.95,-0.42%), among others.
Among sectors, Oil&Gas index was at 14980.83 up by 340.09 points or by 2.32%. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 268.35,+5.69%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 348.50,+3.61%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 168.70,+2.90%), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 153.80,+2.77%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1390.00,+1.96%),. On the other hand, Auto index was at 19526.28 down by -56 points or by -0.29%. Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 223.70,-3.33%), MRF Ltd. (Rs. 55834.25,-1.47%), Apollo Tyres Ltd. (Rs. 208.85,-1.30%), Bharat Forge Ltd. (Rs. 480.90,-1.15%), Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (Rs. 951.40,-0.84%),.
The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2827 , shares advanced were 1334 while 1308 shares declined and 185 were unchanged.