Sensex climbs 100 pts on late buying in bank, auto stocks

The benchmark BSE Sensex today rose by 100 points to 26,686.51 on fag-end buying in banks and auto stocks as trade deficit narrowing to a three months low in May bolstered the outlook for country's current account balance.

Sentiments turned positive following revival of buying by participants after trade deficit narrowed to USD 10.4 billion in May against USD 11.2 billion in the same month a year ago, equity brokers said.

Moreover, CBDT today said the taxmen will not resort to coercive methods to recover dues towards Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on capital gains made by FIIs and would wait for the Supreme Court order on the issue.

Globally, Asian markets retreated for the second straight session, tracking a global sell-off as Greece struggles to find a compromise with its creditors.

The 30-share BSE Index in late morning trade fell over 200 points to day's low of 26,379.93 points as participants booked profits after two straight sessions of gains.

After mid-session, the index rebounded on buying in select key counters to hit high of 26,731.35 and finally settled with a gain of 99.96 points or 0.38 per cent at 26,686.51.
The 50-issue NSE Nifty moved up by 33.40 points or 0.42 per cent to end at 8,047.30. During the day it had dipped below the 8,000-mark to touch a low of 7,952.35.

Tata Power was among the most sought after stocks as it closed up by 2.57 per cent to Rs 73.95 largely supported by covering-up of short positions, followed by Bajaj Auto at 2.44 per cent to Rs 2,391.35.

Hindustan Unilever, SBI, NTPC, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, Cipla, Coal India, L&T, RIL and ONGC also notched handsome gains and supported the Sensex rise.

Out of 30-share Sensex, 22 stocks ended with gains.
Sectorwise, BSE consumer durables index gained the most by rising 1.18 per cent, followed by auto (1.08 pc), banking index (0.87 pc) and power (0.73 pc).