Sensex breaches 19K-mark on reforms

The Sensex on Thursday breached the 19,000-mark (19K-mark) for the first time in 15 months as it rose 188 points ahead of the Cabinet meeting that is likely to consider big-ticket reforms like opening the pension sector to foreign investment and raising FDI cap in the insurance sector. After resuming 30 points lower compared to on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark index hit 19,107.04, its highest since July 2011, around mid-session as investors poured funds across stocks in realty, consumer goods, banks, capital goods and power shares in anticipation of fresh reforms, said brokers. Rising for the fourth straight day, the 30-share Sensex closed at 19,058.15, up 188.46 points or 1 per cent, as 20 stocks led by Bhel (6.57 per cent), ICICI Bank (2.93 per cent), Dr Reddy (2.16 per cent) and SBI (2.15 per cent) ended higher. Sensex has gained 480 points in the last four days. Smart gains logged by ITC, HDFC Bank, L&T and TCS counters also helped the index sustain above the 19K mark on Thursday. The 50-share NSE Nifty after breaching 5,800-level, ended at 17-month high levels of 5,787.60 - up 56.35 points. In the overall market, over 1,700 stocks rose while 1,244 scrips declined. Total investor wealth rose by Rs 48,000 crore to Rs 66.71 lakh crore, shows BSE data. European stocks see-sawed in their early trading and were quoting slightly better in the afternoon trade with investors waiting for the Bank of England’s and the European Central Bank’s interest-rate decisions later in the day. Key benchmark indices in UK, France and Germany were up between 0.15 pct and 0.28 pct. Indication of higher opening in US index futures also boosted the market sentiment. Kishor P. Ostwal, CMD, CNI Research Ltd. said,” As expected, Nifty climbed but finding resistance at 5800 level. It closed at 5788. I expect the party will not sustain for long as nothing constructive is coming out from reforms process. At the same time the valuations have reached as if our GDP growth is 7.5 pct hence the momentum may get converted into distribution on results.” RUPEE SURGES The Indian rupee continued its north-bound journey for the fifth session in a row, breaching 52-mark for the first time after 5-1/2-month to settle at 51.74 against the Greenback on sustained rally in local stocks amid increased capital inflows. Persistent dollar selling by exporters and some banks amid weak dollar overseas too boosted the rupee sentiment. The rupee opened higher at 52.00 a dollar against last close of 52.16 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market on Thursday and immediately touched the day’s low of 52.10. From gulftoday