Moneycontrol Bureau
The 50-share NSE benchmark saw one-sided rally on Wednesday, an expiry day for February derivative contracts. Healthcare, banks, capital goods and FMCG stocks helped the index hold 6,200 level.
Benchmarks closed higher for the fourth consecutive session. The Sensex rose 134.52 points to 20,986.99 and the Nifty climbed 38.75 points to 6,238.80.
For the February series, former gained 2.2 percent and latter rallied 2.7 percent supported by banks and capital goods stocks, but broader markets outperformed benchmarks. CNX Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices jumped over 4 percent.
Overall it was a volatile series for the market; the lowest point for the Nifty during the series was 5933.30 and the highest point 6245.95.
Now coming to the March series that will begin on Friday, experts believe the Nifty may touch 6,300-6.400 during the series while in the year 2014, they expect 6800-6900 levels.
Manishi Raychaudhuri of BNP Paribas Securities said that the broking firm has upgraded India to overweight from underweight. He expects 10-15 percent upside move in the Nifty this year and sees it ending 2014 in range of 6,800-6,900.
However, till the general elections overhang is out of the way, the market is likely to move sideways with a positive bias, he said.
Indian equity market will be shut on Thursday for Mahashivratri.
State-run GAIL topped the buying list, rising 3 percent followed by cigarette major ITC and utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra with a 2 percent upmove.
Dr Reddy’s Labs closed at a record high of Rs 2,823 on launch of Sumatriptan injection USP (to treat symptoms of migraine headaches) in the US market. The stock gained 1.77 percent.
State-run capital goods major BHEL continued its upmove for the third consecutive session, rising 1.6 percent today on reports that LIC may buy stake 5 percent stake in the company. It gained around 6 percent in three sessions.
Wipro rose 1.4 percent in addition to 3 percent upmove in previous session on getting 10-year contract from UK's Carillion Plc.
Housing financing company HDFC, top lender State Bank of India, two-wheeler makers Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp climbed one percent.
However, metals lost shine with BSE Metal Index falling 1.8 percent. Tata Steel fell over 3 percent and Sesa Sterlite declined 2.6 percent. Coal India slipped over a percent.
Tata Power lost 1.85 percent. The company said it would sell 30 percent stake in Indonesian coal mine for USD 120 million.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court has issued non-bailable warrant against Sahara group owner Subrata Roy. Sahara head failed to appear in SC today despite summons; hence Supreme Court expressed anguish at Sahara head not appearing in court.
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