Short Covering Spurs Bull Run For 6th Day

Short covering ahead of monthly F&O expiry later this week fueled the rally as the Sensex breached the psychological 78K mark intra-day on across-the-board buying. - Prashanth Tapse, Sr V-P (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex surged by 1,078 points to close at a six-week high on Monday as fresh foreign fund inflows and buying in banking and oil & gas shares helped the index extend the winning run to the sixth day.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,078.87 points or 1.40 per cent to settle at 77,984.38, a level not seen since February 6. During the day, it zoomed 1,201.72 points or 1.56 per cent to breach the 78,000 level and touch a high of 78,107.23. The NSE Nifty surged by 307.95 points or 1.32 per cent to 23,658.35.

Investors became richer by Rs27.10 lakh crore in six-day rally. The BSE benchmark gauge jumped 4,155.47 points or 5.62 per cent in six trading days. The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms zoomed Rs27,10,918.98 crore to Rs4,18,29,351.91 crore (Rs418.29 lakh cr or $4.87 trn) during this period.

“Short covering ahead of monthly F&O expiry later this week fueled the rally as the Sensex breached the psychological 78K mark intra-day on across-the-board buying. Renewed optimism by foreign investors coupled with strong US and European market cues further bolstered the sentiment,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior V-P (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

The BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.32 per cent and smallcap index climbed 1.17 per cent. Intra-day, the benchmark zoomed 358.35 points or 1.53 per cent to 23,708.75. A positive trend in the US and European markets powered the rally in domestic equities, experts said. A sharp rebound in the rupee also bolstered investor sentiment.