Sensex Rallies 250 Pts Led by the Surge in Asian Shares

Indian markets bounced back on Friday.

Snapping the three-session long falling spree, the S&P BSE Sensex surged over 200 points to regain its crucial psychological level of 23,000, while broader CNX Nifty also tested its key 7,050-mark.

Similarly, the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended the day’s trade in the red – lower by 48.10 points, or 0.69 percent, at 6,970.60 points. The market fell in three out of five sessions of the week.

Overall market breadth for the day remained positive and advances to declines ratio for Nifty stood at 38:12 for the day.

Indian shares rose in early trade on Friday after sharp overnight gains on Wall Street and a firming trend at Asian bourses, as oil prices steadied, USA orders for durable goods rose by the most in 10 months in January and China’s central bank said it has more room and tools in its monetary policy to tackle downward pressure in the economy.

Moreover, likely achievement of 2015-16 fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent also boosted sentiment ahead of the Budget.

Further, investors took notice of the fact that railway revenue targets might not be met due to a slowdown in economic activity and that the government looked at monetising the internal resources for fund mobilization.

However, a weak rupee kept investors unnerved and capped gains.

During the intra-day trade rupee value dwindelled to 68.79 to a United States dollar from its previous close of 68.56 to a greenback.

Meanwhile, there is wide expectation of further increase in clean energy cess on coal in Union Budget 2016-17 as the government intends to encourage renewable energy generation.

Global markets have gotten off to shaky start in 2016, weighed by a slowing world economy, concerns over European banking system and plunging crude oil prices. “The railway budget did not provide any surprises”, Anand James, co-head, technical research desk with Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS.

The equity markets were buoyed by value-buying and short-covering which were triggered on hopes of positive budgetary announcements.