Equities at 6-month high on stimulus hopes

MUMBAI: Indian equity markets made healthy gains on Wednesday to close at a new six-month high, as expectations built up of new stimulus measures to aid Industry. The session was the fourth consecutive time that the key indices rose.

Sector-wise, the top gainers were BSE Auto, Bankex, IT and Realty indices, whereas top losers were BSE Telecom, Capital Goods, and FMCG indices.

Globally, markets around the world are awaiting the US Fed Chairman's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Thursday, for getting further cues on future stimulus measures.

On Wednesday, major Asian markets closed on a mixed note.

However, European indices like the CAC and DAX ended higher.

Index-wise, the BSE Sensex closed at 39,073.92, higher by 230.04 points or 0.59 per cent from the previous close of 38,843.88.

It opened at 38,930.18 and touched an intra-day high of 39,111.55 and low of 38,765.09 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 11,549.60, higher by 77.35 points or 0.67 per cent from the previous close.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: "Indian benchmark indices picked up positivity towards the latter half of the trading day, after trading flat with a slight positive bias, and ended in gains. It was in sync with a positive opening in the European markets which is banking on additional stimulus measures to aid economic recovery."

"Index heavyweight Reliance contributed more than half of the Nifty gains, while sectorally Auto and the Banking indexes contributed the most. Auto stocks gained on expectations of government measures to help out the ailing sector. Markets are expected to trade due to uncertainty over lack of fresh triggers while stock-specific action will continue."

Angel Broking's Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Sameet Chavan, said: "Despite sluggish global cues, our markets started the day marginally higher above the 11,500-mark. Subsequently, the index remained in a slender range for the major part of the day."

"However, all of a sudden, strong buying momentum triggered at the stroke of the penultimate hour in some of the banking heavyweights to lead to a spike of 50-60 points in Nifty to post the highest close beyond 11,500 in the last six months." (IANS)

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