Sensex up 127 points; reaches 2-month high on FII buying

Mumbai, Mar 28 (PTI) Sustained buying by foreign funds
pushed up the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex Monday to a
two-month high of over 18,943, up 127 points, led by auto,
capital goods and banking stocks amid easing crude oil prices.
Besides, brokers said that there was short covering by
operators ahead of the expiry of March derivatives contract on
Thursday, pushing up Sensex for the fifth session in a row.
Intra-day, the BSE benchmark index had crossed the
19,000 level. The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer
Sensex resumed slightly lower but bounced back to reach
19,024.18, before ending the day at 18,943.14, a rise of
127.50 points or 0.68 per cent.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) 50-issue Nifty also
improved further by 33.00 points or 0.58 per cent to end at
5,687.25. It touched an intra-day high of 5,709.10.
The market remained buoyant despite steady to weak
global cues, as Asian as well as European stocks displayed a
narrowly mixed trend with downward bias.
Auto, capital goods and banking counters attracted
good buying support and mainly supported the Sensex rise.
The main reason behind the sustained rally was
continued buying by FIIs that have pumped in Rs 2,430.38 crore
in last week, including provisional data of March 25.
Taking their cue, domestic players as well as retail
investors stepped in supporting the market sentiment.
Marketmen also attributed to the positive sentiment to
a drop in crude oil prices, easing concerns of inflation and a
further hike in interest rate. Oil fell for the third day in
New York, down 54 cents to USD 104.86 a barrel.
"The undertone has improved a little in the past few
days on the back of strong FII inflows, tabling of long
pending reform-centric bills in parliament and resilient world
equities," said IIFL Head of Research (India Private Clients)
Amar Ambani.
He added, however, that this week's trading sentiment
is expected to be influenced by monthly expiry of the
derivatives contracts for March.