Sensex Gains 642 Pts., Nifty Tops 14744 Levels; FMCG Pack Gains Most

Benchmark indices after five straight days of losing streak, in a choppy session towards the end of the trading week gained substantially by over 1 percent, lifted primarily by gains in FMCG, metal and PSU Bank pack.

The smart recovery in the indices may also be fuelled by Moody's report which expects Indian economy to witness 12% growth in CY 2021.

At the close, Sensex was up by 642 pts or 1.3% at 49858, while Nifty jumped 186 points to 14744. Broader markets too rallied proportionately, with Nifty Mid-cap 100 last up by 1.36 percent.

NTPC, HUL, Power Grid, Tata Steel and UPL were among the top gainers in trade today, while top laggards included Larsen, Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra, Coal India and Bajaj Finserv.

FTSE's semi-annual index rebalancing today is estimated to result in inflow worth $800-900 million into Indian equities and some of the stocks likely to benefit from the rejig are Apollo Hospitals Ltd., Honeywell Automation Ltd., Mindtree Ltd and partly paid shares of Reliance Industries.

IT pack also shone in today's session after Accenture reported robust earnings for February ended quarter.

Future Retail scrip fell 10 per cent after the Delhi High Court upheld the Emergency Award that Amazon had won against Future Retail-RIL deal.

Meanwhile, European indices traded weak with FTSE down the most by 0.59% at the time of writing this copy.