Sensex Regains 26,000; Nifty Above 7,750

BSE Sensex and Nifty inched higher today, boosted by higher global markets and weak crude oil prices. Brent crude oil were hovering around 13-month low of $103 a barrel.

Some market participants are expecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make some big announcements tomorrow. On Friday, Mr Modi will make his first Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, and the expectations are that he may use the occasion to announce bold changes that have so far been absent. Also, adding to the positive sentiment, overseas investors bought shares worth Rs 718 crore on Wednesday.

Sensex was up 143 points at 26,062 while Nifty rose 34 points to 7,773.

Despite close to 0.5 per cent gains in frontline indices, the gains in the broader markets remained muted. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices were flat.

Mehraboon Irani of Nirmal Bang Securities said markets would struggle in the next 1-2 months unless there are some big announcements from the government. We are likely to see plenty of stock-specific movements, he added.

Buying was seen in defensive sectors such as FMCG, IT and healthcare stocks. Banking and capital goods stocks also attracted buying after falling sharply yesterday.

Among banking stocks, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were up over 1 per cent while Lupin and Sun Pharma rose close to 1 per cent. Among tech stocks, TCS and Tech Mahindra were up 0.8 per cent.

In broader markets, Lanco Infratech gained 4.7 per cent while Adani Power rose 2.1 per cent on Thursday, a day after Lanco sold a power plant to Adani in a Rs 6,000 crore deal to cut debt.

In other global markets, Asian shares pushed higher on Thursday after a flood of soft economic data led investors to wager on a ceaseless fountain of stimulus from major central banks, sending bond yields tumbling across the globe. Japan's Topix rose 0.5 per cent, while the Australian market added 0.7 per cent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3 per cent.

On Wall Street the Dow ended Wednesday 0.55 per cent firmer, while the S&P 500 added 0.67 per cent and the Nasdaq 1.02 per cent. (With Agency Inputs)