Markets Gain For 2nd Day; Sensex, Nifty Climb Nearly 1%

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty advanced nearly 1 per cent each on Thursday following positive trends in global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 427.49 points or 0.80 per cent to settle at 54,178.46. During the day, it rallied 503.82 points or 0.93 per cent to 54,254.79.

The NSE Nifty advanced 143.10 points or 0.89 per cent to close at 16,132.90.

Among the Sensex pack, Titan, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, M&M, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the major gainers.

Dr Reddy's Lab, Nestle, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green.

European markets were trading higher in mid-session deals. The US markets had ended higher on Wednesday.

"Domestic bourses mirrored an upbeat mood in global equity markets as investors digested the latest FOMC minutes while falling crude and commodity prices lifted investor sentiments. This upside momentum could dominate the markets in the near-term, underpinned by hopes of reducing inflation," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The RBI's latest measures to boost foreign exchange inflows is expected to aid the tumbling rupee, he added.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday raised overseas borrowing limits for companies and liberalised norms for foreign investments in government bonds as it announced a slew of measures to boost foreign exchange inflows in efforts to curb the fall of the rupee.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.05 per cent to USD 100.7 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors resumed selling after a day's breather, offloading shares worth a net Rs 330.13 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.