Sensex rises 127 pts to one-week high on late buying

Indian markets gained for the third straight session today with benchmark Sensex surging nearly 127 points to one week closing high of 27,585.27 on late buying in blue-chips ahead of retail inflation and IIP data.

The NSE Nifty index reclaimed the 8,300-mark by rising 38.50 points, or 0.46 per cent, to end at 8,323.

After staying in red for most part of the session, the broader indices gained pace in the last one and a half hours.

The BSE 30-share Sensex, after slumping to day's low of 27,323.74, staged a comeback as it wiped off losses to close 126.89 points, or 0.46 per cent, higher at 27,585.27. This is its strongest close since 27,842.32 on January 5.

The index has now gained over 676 points in three days.

Gainers in the 30-share Sensex include Hindustan Unilever, L&T, Infosys, HDFC, BHEL, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, Dr Reddys, Sun Pharma, TCS, Tata Power, Wipro and NTPC.

Speaking on the sidelines of Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said investments are significantly going to move up in coming days.

All eyes are now on November IIP data and December retail inflation, to be released later today, brokers said.

"Markets rose with the expectations that the economy may come out of the contraction in industrial activity as depicted by October's IIP data," said Bonanza Portfolio, Senior Vice President, Rakesh Goyal.

Sectorally, the BSE Capital Goods index gained the most by rising 1.55 per cent, followed by FMCG 1.42 per cent, IT 1.32 per cent, Banking 0.90 per cent, Power 0.51 per cent, Consumer Durables 0.49 per cent and Healthcare 0.32 per cent.

Major Sensex losers were RIL, GAIL and ONGC, which dragged down the BSE Oil and Gas index by 1.19 per cent. Coal India slumped over 4 per cent on disinvestment buzz.

Helped by retail investors' buying, the small-cap index rose 0.83 per cent and mid-cap index surged 0.58 per cent.

Higher closing at other Asian markets and a better opening in Europe also influenced trading sentiments here.

Foreigners sold shares worth a net Rs 297.99 crore last Friday as per provisional data.