Sensex rises 288 points to close at 39,044; Nifty reclaims 11,500 – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Equity indices finished higher on Tuesday with the benchmark BSE sensex rising nearly 300 points led by gains in banking, financial and pharma stocks amid positive global cues and sustained foreign fund inflow.
The 30-share BSE index finished 288 points or 0.74 per cent higher at 39,044; while the broader NSE Nifty settled 82 points or 0.71 per cent higher at 11,522.
Top gainers in the sensex pack included IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Bajaj Finance with their shares rising as much as 4.89 per cent.
While Titan, Maruti, ITC, Asian Paints, HCL Tech and Bajaj Auto were the major losers falling up to 1.41 per cent.
On the NSE, sub-indices Nifty Bank, Pharma, Financial Services and Private Bank gained as much as 1.93 per cent.
According to traders, domestic equities finished on a positive note tracking firm cues from global markets and sustained foreign fund inflow.
“Expectations of a bumper crop will likely drive down food inflation going forward, which could further help ease the overall retail inflation for the rest of the year,” Rusmik Oza, head of fundamental research at Kotak Securities told news agency Reuters.
“The (SEBI’s norms) for small- and mid-caps has created a sort of feel-good factor in the markets,” Oza added, referring to the regulator’s direction that multi-cap funds must invest at least 25% each in large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap stocks.
On the currency front, rupee pared early gains to settle 16 paise lower at 73.64 (provisional) against the US dollar even as domestic equity market traded in the positive territory.
Meanwhile, exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 298.22 crore on a net basis on Monday.
(With agency inputs)