Greece woos bulls; Sensex up 300 pts, Nifty ends above 8450

Moneycontrol Bureau

Equity markets in Asia and Europe rallied after the European Union agreed on a bailout package for Greece, subject to conditions.

India too rode the wave, with the 30-share Sensex closing at 27961.19, up 299.79 points or 1.08 percent over its previous close. The Nifty closed at 8459.65, up 99.10 points or 1.1 percent over its previous close.

Dealers said the rally was largely sentiment driven, since India had not fallen much when Greece had defaulted on its loans and later voted ‘no’ in the referendum on the bail out package terms.

“This is a relief rally (globally), which most people will sell into,” Andrew Holland, CEO, Ambit Investment Advisors, told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

According to him, the events in China and the Fed decision on interest rates will be bigger triggers for global markets.

IT, oil & gas, auto, pharmaceutical and FMCG shares were among the notable gainers of the day.

Metal shares, which had taken a beating of late on concerns of a slowdown in China, found takers today, though the BSE Metal Index rose less than the Sensex.

Private sector bank IndusInd Bank rallied over 3 percent after its first quarter earnings were ahead of analyst estimates.

HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Nifty, climbing 4 percent. Other prominent gainers in the Nifty included Zee Entertainment, GAIL, HDFC and BPCL, up around 3 percent each.

Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, Ambuja Cements, NTPC, Cairn India, Hindalco and Wipro rose between 2-3 percent.

According to Nilesh Shah of Envision Capital, the Bihar elections in November will be a bigger trigger for the market than monsoon.

According to Shah, a victory for NDA in the Bihar polls would embolden the government to accelerate the pace of economic reforms and also pave the way for the passage of important Bills.

He expects the market to volatile near term.

Navneet Munot, CIO, SBI Mutual Fund too expects volatility in the near term, but feels the market should resume its upward trend after consolidating for the next couple of months.

Crude prices weakened again on Monday as prospects of a nuclear deal with Iran brightened.

Crude fell to below USD 52 per barrel as a deal will Iran will allow that country to sell its oil in the global markets, and increase supply.