Sensex Rallies For Fifth Day, Nifty Reclaims 11,000 After 4 Months

Stock markets extended the rally to fifth day with the S&P BSE Sensex surging over 350 points and the NSE Nifty 50 Index climbing above 11,050 to hit highest level in over four months. The Sensex rose 358 points or 0.98 per cent to close at 36,975 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 1.17 per cent or 128 points to 11,062. Rally in today's session was led by Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services.

Stock markets extended rally on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India might change its policy stance to stance to "neutral" from "calibrated tightening", in the first meet under the leadership of Shaktikanta Das, who was appointed last December.

Over two-thirds of 65 economists polled by Reuters predicted the RBI to hold its repo rate at 6.50 per cent.

"The bulls continued to dominate, as the equity benchmark indices registered fifth straight session of gains, largely on hopes of a dovish RBI monetary policy tomorrow," Jayant Manglik, president at Religare Broking said.

Meanwhile, sixteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE Metal Index's 2.44 per cent gain. On the flipside, S&P BSE Consumer Durables Index was top loser, down 0.39 per cent.

The broader markets underperformed their larger peers as the S&P BSE MidCap Index fell 0.12 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap Index ended little changed.

Tech Mahindra was the top gainer from the Nifty 50 basket of stocks. The stock surged 8 per cent to close at Rs 812 after its profit surpassed analysts' estimates in December quarter. Cipla, Zee Entertainment, Bajaj Finance and Tata Steel were also among the gainers. On the flipside, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Dr. Reddy's Labs, Titan and Axis Bank were among the notable losers in Nifty 50 index.

(With agency inputs)