Sensex ends 3-day losing streak, jumps 291 points

A key Indian equities index, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed 291.47 points, or 1.21 percent, higher on Tuesday despite China reporting its lowest growth in 25 years during the quarter ending December 2015.

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd dipped ahead of the company’s expected earnings release on January 18.

Major gainers were Adani Ports (5.90 percent), Axis Bank (5.23 percent), Tata Motors (3.71 percent), L&T (3.68 percent), Bharti Airtel (3.26 percent), ICICI Bank (2.74 percent), Reliance Industries (2.51 percent), Hero MotoCorp (2.13 percent), HDFC (1.65 percent), ONGC (1.44 percent) and BHEL (1.30 percent).

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading 24.40 points, or 0.33 percent down at 7,413.40 points. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.-traded shares fell 3.9 percent.

The benchmark indices rallied tracking gains in Asian markets after oil prices nudged up and Chinese GDP figures came mostly in line with expectations.

Vaibhav Agarwal, vice president and research head at Angel Broking, elaborated that European markets which traded in the green failed to lift markets. It is the weakest pace of expansion since the first quarter of 2009.

But, hopes of fresh stimulus by the policymakers in China gave a boost to the global shares.

ITC too was down a percent at Rs 312.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, capital goods gained the most by rising 2.85 per cent, followed by infra 1.81 per cent, bankex 1.68 per cent, realty 1.67 per cent, healthcare 1.49 per cent, power 1.27 per cent and oil & gas 0.97 per cent.

Buying by retail investors too re-emerged in broader markets helping the mid-cap and small-cap indices gain up to 1.75 per cent. It was down by 86.80 points or 1.17 percent at 7,351 points – its lowest closing since May 30, 2014.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,203.84 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.