Sensex ends around 34,300 mark; Nifty near 10,550

The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gained up to 0.42 percent on value buying by investors after recent losses on easing inflation worries and positive global cues.

The 30-share barometer rose by 141.52 points, or 0.41percent, to close at 34,297.47. The broader NSE Nifty gained 44.60 points, or 0.42 percent, to end at 10,545.50 after touching a high of 10,618.10.

WPI inflation easing to the six-month low of 2.84 percent in January and encouraging earnings by some blue chips boosted the sentiments, brokers said.

Overseas, Asian stocks gained taking cues from the rally on Wall Street overnight following the release of stronger-than-expected US inflation data, traders.\

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 728.71 crore on the net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) too sold equities to the tune of Rs 152.39 crore on Wednesday, provisional data showed. 

Among individual stocks, Punjab National Bank (PNB) continued its journey south on Thursday with the stock slipping nearly 8 percent. The management tried to assuage investor concerns a day after the state-owned bank said that it had detected some fraudulent and unauthorised transactions worth about Rs 1.13 trillion ($1,771.69 million) at one of its branches in Mumbai. 

PNB Managing Director & Chief Executive Sunil Mehta on Thursday made it clear that the bank will not spare anyone, senior or junior, who was involved in the fraud, saying the second-largest bank will honour all their bona fide commitments. He also said that the scam was detected by bank officials for the first time on January 25 and they had reported about it to the concerned agencies.

GLOBAL MARKETS

In global markets, Asian stocks gained on Thursday after Wall Street brushed aside strong US inflation data and surged, a counterintuitive move that also saw the dollar pinned at two-week lows even as Treasury yields jumped in anticipation of a quicker pace of US interest rate hikes.

Japanese stocks were higher despite fresh gains for the yen, which had sent the Nikkei Stock Average to four-month lows on both Tuesday and Wednesday. The index was up 1.6% after having fallen in 12 of the prior 15 sessions. Financials were among the big gainers as US Treasury yields hit fresh multiyear highs Wednesday. That included Dai-ichi Life, which jumped 3.7% to erase the week’s decline.

 

(With agency inputs)