Sensex bolts away, jumps 425 points on foreign capital inflows; Nifty tops 8,800-mark

Mumbai: For the second day, the Sensex broke free Friday, shooting up nearly 425 points, and the Nifty wrested back control of the 8,800-mark in early session on substantial gains across the spectrum, driven by increased foreign capital inflows.

The 30-share barometer zoomed 424.99 points, or 1.50 percent, to 28,726.26. The gauge had gained 145.71 points in the previous session.

Also, the NSE Nifty recaptured the key 8800-level by surging 91.60 points, or 1.04 percent, to 8,869.60.

HDFC Bank skyrocketed 7.29 percent to Rs 1,424.05 after RBI yesterday lifted restrictions on foreign investors for purchase of shares in the company.

 

FIIs, NRIs and PIOs (persons of Indian origin) can invest in primary and secondary capital markets in India through portfolio investment scheme (PIS).

RBI monitors the ceilings on FII, NRI, PIO investments in Indian companies on a daily basis and has fixed the cut-off 2 percentage points below the actual ceiling.

Other big-time movers that supported the rally were HDFC Ltd, Axis Bank, Lupin, PowerGrid, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, ONGC, Cipla, GAIL, Bharti Airtel and L&T, advancing by up to 1.64 percent.

Brokers said sustained buying by investors, along with foreign capital inflows amid sizeable purchases by domestic institutional investors, bolstered sentiment.

However, they said, a weak trend at other Asian markets tempered the momentum here.

In the rest of Asia, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.57 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumped 0.46 percent in early trade today. Shanghai Composite was trading 0.24 percent down.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, ended 0.04 percent higher yesterday.