A 25-basis point cut in key interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) helped benchmark BSE Sensex to close 91.26 points, or 0.32 per cent, higher at 28,334.55 on Tuesday. Nifty settled 31.05 points, or 0.36 per cent, up at 8,769.15. Traders were seen piling up positions in oil & gas, telecom, realty, banking and auto stocks.
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Among the 51-components in the Nifty index, 34 settled the day in green with ONGC surging the most — 4.69 per cent, followed by Gail (up 4.38 per cent), Tata Steel (up 2.27 per cent), State Bank of India (up 2.23 per cent) and Tata Motors (up 2.07 per cent). On the other hand, Zee Entertainment, Coal India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ambuja Cement and L&T slipped 2.43 per cent, 2.15 per cent, 2.07 per cent, 1.26 per cent and 1.24 per cent, respectively.
Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said, “Even though we had a surprise cut by RBI, the market remained muted. It was a breather post the bounce back after the geo-political issue. Given the neutral commentary from RBI there is limited room for further cut in the near-term.”
Barring the BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.45 per cent), rest all other sectoral indices on BSE ended the day with gains. The BSE oil & Gas index, Telecom, Realty, Metal and TECk index gained 2.33 per cent, 1.29 per cent, 0.96 per cent, 0.78 per cent and 0.55 per cent, respectively.
Shares of ONGC, Gail and BPCL also hit their fresh 52-week high during the day.
Other Asian equity markets also ended in green on Tuesday after oil futures surged to a multi-week high overnight and as the yen weakened against the dollar on data suggesting the US manufacturing sector grew better than expected in September. Hang Seng and Nikkei settled 0.45 per cent and 0.83 per cent up at 23689.44 and 16,735.65, respectively.
