Indian equity benchmarks rallied on Thursday, snapping two-day losing streak after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided to leave interest rates unchanged. A hike in interest rates would have triggered flight of capital from emerging markets such as India, leading to a stock market crash. IT stocks, however, bucked the trend and ended with losses.
The markets opened with gains of over one per cent, with select stocks hitting new 52-week-high.
The rally was broad-based and saw the 30-scrip BSE Sensex gaining as much as 364 points, but giving up gains during the closing hours to end at 28,773, up 265 points. The 50-scrip NSE Nifty closed at 8,867, up 90 points.
Top Sensex gainers included State Bank of India (2.43 per cent, Rs 257.45), Hero Motocorp (2.10 per cent, Rs 3,532.60), ICICI Bank (2.08 per cent, Rs 275.25), Adani Ports (2.02 per cent, Rs 275.10) and Asian Paints (1.94 per cent, Rs 1,191.95).
The Indian rupee opened higher at 66.86 after closing the previous session at 67.02 levels, boosting sentiments on the stock markets.
Select stocks hit new 52-week-high on the BSE, such as Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserve, Eicher Motors, MRF, Escorts and GNFC.
