Mumbai: Benchmark indices registered their seventh day of rally Friday, defying a global market rout, with the Sensex climbing 1,718 points and the Nifty regaining the 25,000 level, as sustained foreign fund inflows and easing crude oil prices boosted optimism among investors.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,718.01 points, or 2.17 per cent, to settle at the day’s high of 81,028.02.
The 50-share NSE Nifty rallied 493.75 points, or 2.01 per cent, to end at the day’s high of 25,030.35.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra climbed 6.15 per cent after the automaker Thursday reported a 25 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) for the second quarter ended September to Rs 4,587.88 crore, backed by strong revenue growth, particularly for the auto segment, despite headwinds emanating from the West Asia conflict-linked commodity price pressures.
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ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Titan, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the winners.
Power Grid was the only laggard from the blue-chip pack.
In the past seven consecutive sessions, the Sensex has surged 7,781.99 points, or 10.62 per cent, and the Nifty rallied 2,331.5 points, or 10.27 per cent.
On Thursday, the Sensex zoomed 2,008.61 points, or 2.60 per cent, to settle at 79,310.01. The Nifty surged 576 points, or 2.40 per cent, to end at 24,536.60.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 1.50 per cent to USD 96.82 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 14,974.68 crore Thursday, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi tanked 6.02 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was down 5.96 per cent. Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended over 1 per cent lower.
Markets in Europe were trading in negative territory.
The US equity markets ended sharply lower Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 5.52 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 4.36 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.44 per cent.
“Indian equities defied a global rout, extending their winning run as investors treated the home market as a relative safe harbour amid turmoil abroad. Wall Street was hammered by a sharp tech sell-off as investors weighed the prospect of tougher regulation under Democrats,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.
