Indian shares log 4-week closing high

A benchmark index for Indian equities markets rose 202 points on Wednesday, rallying for the second consecutive day on positive cues from other Asian and European bourses.The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the positive at 16,922.31 points, consolidated its gain in afternoon session and ended the day at 17,065, up 1.20 per cent or 202.19 points from the previous close at 16,862.81 points. At the National Stock Exchange, the 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty closed 1.19 per cent or 60.35 points higher at 5,124.65 points. Buying activities were across the board, as broader markets as well as all sectoral indices at the BSE, except FMCG index, closed in the positive. The BSE midcap index closed 1.24 per cent higher at 6,473.52 points and the BSE small cap index ended 1.53 per cent up at 7,307.02 points. There was strong buying support in realty, auto and banking stocks.Jaiprakash Associates surged almost 8 per cent on speculation that the company was in talks with South America firms Cemex and Votorantim Group for minority stake sale. The scrip closed 7.70 per cent higher at Rs.71.35. HDFC Bank, up 3.42 per cent at Rs.487.95. Coal India, up 3.38 per cent at Rs.391.25. Tata Power, up 3.38 per cent at Rs.1,038.70. NTPC, up 2.95 per cent at Rs.167.40 and Hindalco Inds, up 2.87 per cent at Rs.159.65 were among the major gainers of the day. Only six of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the red. ITC, 0.99 per cent down at Rs.200.20. Mahindra & Mahindra, down 0.99 per cent at Rs.786.55” Infosys, down 0.53 per cent at Rs.2,291.20 and Bajaj Auto, down 0.20 per cent at Rs.1,640 were major losers. Lenders State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained between 0.91 and 3.3 per cent on the day on growing expectations that the central bank may hold rates at its Sept.16 policy review. “We are following the European market and high beta-stocks that were badly beaten down are now seeing buying,” said Vikas Khemani, president at Edelweiss Capital. Better-than-expected data on the US services sector and Australian growth as well as speculation that Washington may unveil a $300 billion package to create new jobs also helped improve the global market sentiment. Realty shares gained with top realtors DLF closing up 2.64 per cent and second-largest Unitech gaining 7.36 per cent on bargain hunting. Power utilities also rose on value buying. The sectoral index rose more than 2 per cent. Top utility NTPC, private utility Tata Power and Adani Power all closed around 3.5 per cent higher.Foreign funds have bought shares worth $450 million this month until on Tuesday  after selling about $2 billion in August. From / Gulf Today