SENSEX ENDS ON POSITIVE NOTE FINALLY

The equity markets snapped their seven- day losing streak as global markets showed some signs of stability after getting battered for the last few trading session amid fears of an interest rate hike in the US. Tracking gains in major Asian markets, the Sensex rallied 330.45 points or 0.97 per cent to end the day at 34,413.16 while the Nifty ended the day at 10,576.85, up 100.15 points or 0.96 per cent.

The market found support from domestic institutional investors such as insurance firms and MFs, which together invested ` 2,373 crores on Thurs- day. This, according to market participants, managed to offset the impact of heavy selling by foreign portfolio investors ( FPI) who are unwinding their portfolio in emerging markets in anticipation of a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

According to the provisional data released by the stock exchanges, foreign portfolio investors ( FPI) offloaded shares worth ` 2,297 crores.

The small and mid cap stocks stole the limelight on the domestic bourses outperforming their large cap peers by a huge margin with several stocks hitting their upper circuit. As a result, the BSE small cap index surged 2.25 per cent and the BSE mid cap index soared 1.82 per cent as against the less than 1 per cent gain in the Nifty and Sensex.

“Mid and small cap shares continued to outshine their larger counterparts as RBI announced relief measures on loans taken by MSMEs ,” said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, senior fund manager, equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.