Sensex closes 54 pts higher on fag-end buying in bluechips

The benchmark BSE Sensex recovered over 54 points to close at 26,425.30 on fag-end buying in some bluechips, led by banking, power and oil & gas sector stocks, and ahead of retail inflation and IIP data to be released today.

However, concerns over a weak monsoon and slow credit growth, kept investors cautious. Sentiments were buoyed after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said banks have promised greater rate cuts in coming weeks, brokers said.

Shares of petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries ended 1.36 per cent higher at Rs 889.15 after the company said it will commercially start its much-awaited 4G telecom services by December.

The company also plans to complete projects worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the crude oil and petrochemical business over the next 12-18 months. The Sensex resumed lower at 26,340.32 and slipped to hit the day's low of 26,307.07 points in early trade on sustained capital outflows.

However, it wiped-off initial losses on value-buying coupled with covering-up of short positions by speculators at prevailing levels and rebounded to touch session's high of 26,489.58 before ending at 26,425.30, showing a gain of 54.32 points, or 0.21 per cent.

It had lost 469.52 points in yesterday's trade. On a weekly basis, the 30-share Sensex fell by 343.19 points, or 1.28 per cent, to complete third consecutive week of losses.

Similarly, the CNX 50-share Nifty rose by 17.55 points, or 0.22 per cent, to end at 7,982.90 after shuttling between 7,995.60 and 7,940.30. Among Sensex stocks, Bajaj Auto emerged as the major gainer by surging 3.53 per cent to Rs 2,285.55, followed by Tata Power by 3.49 per cent to Rs 72.60.

Other prominent gainers in the 30-share index included ICICI Bank, BHEL, HDFC Ltd, Cipla, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, M&M and GAIL.
The major Sensex losers were TCS, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Vedanta Ltd, Wipro, Infosys and L&T.