The markets looked upbeat on Wednesday after Tuesday’s lull, with the benchmark Sensex gaining by over 160 points at close after the US Fed Reserve announced a 0.75 percentage cut in interest rates, which buoyed the investor sentiments across the globe.

The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange had soared by more than 600 points in early trade on global cues such as interest rate cut and more-than-expected performance by top US investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.

Profit booking

However, marketmen said, profit booking late in the day in some of the key counters curbed the gains and the BSE barometer came off from early highs, but it still closed on a higher note.

The Sensex settled the day 14,994.83, a fad lower than the crucial 15k level but higher by 161.37 points over its last close. The 50-issue S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also improved by 40.95 points to 4,573.95 from its previous close. Marketmen said operators and retailers played safe in the current uncertain circumstances by booking profits at the day’s higher levels.

Long week-end holidays starting from Thursday led most to book profits, they said, adding that it is still early to say whether investor confidence has improved or not.

The rate cut by the US Fed helped the Wall Street to notch its biggest one-day gain in more than five years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite index flared up by over 420 and 91 points respectively.