LIVE: BSE Sensex surges 574 pts, Nifty gains 148 pts

The BSE Sensex surged over 574 points to trade above the 27,000 level while the Nifty reclaimed the 8,200 mark in the afternoon trade today as funds and retail investors went about creating fresh positions, driven by the government’s decision to refer MAT issue to a high-level committee.

Besides, a rebound in the rupee from the 20-month low also boosted sentiment.

At the forex market, the rupee was trading 32 paise higher at 63.91 to a dollar (intra-day). It had lost 69 paise, or 1.09 per cent, to close at 20-month low of 64.23 in yesterday’s trade.

The rally was led by a strong showing in auto, realty, banking, capital goods, PSUs, FMCG, metal and IT stocks on fresh capital inflows.

The 30-share Sensex soared 574.31 points, or 2.16 per cent, to trade at 27173.42. The gauge had lost 891.48 points in the previous three straight sessions to hit 6-1/2 months low on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds on lingering worries over MAT and delay in passage of key reforms bills in Parliament.

The NSE 50-share barometer Nifty regained the crucial 8,200 mark by climbing 148.80 points, or 1.85 per cent, to quote at 8206.10.

Equity brokers said sentiment was buoyed after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday announced that a high-level committee will look into the controversial issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT).

Furthermore, covering-up of short positions in several blue-chip stocks by speculators and positive cues from global markets supported the rebound.

Among the 30-Sensex stocks, Tata Motors topped with a rise of 5.45 per cent to Rs 514.80 after the company raised Rs 9,040.56 crore from its right issue.

Other major gainers were Cipla, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Ltd, Tata Power, M&M, L&T, Hindalco, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy’s, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, RIL, Hind Unilever, SBI and Wipro.

Reuters – Asian shares rebounded from one-month lows on Friday, helped by signs global bond markets were stabilising after a big selloff, though investors were vigilant ahead of U.S. jobs data and crunch talks between Greece and its creditors at the weekend.

Sterling jumped more than 1.5 percent against other major currencies after British Prime Minister David Cameron appeared set to govern Britain after taking a strong lead in the tightly-contested election.

Spreadbetters expect British shares to rise 1.5 percent while other European indexes such as Germany’s DAX are opening flat.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent, recovering from a one-month low hit earlier. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.5 percent from one-month low hit on Thursday.

Investors breathed a sigh of relief after the global bond market rout since late April appeared to have run its course for now.

“Yields have risen to levels that would attract investors,” said Chotaro Morita, head of Japan rates strategy at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Buying of government bonds resumed after yields reached key levels, including 0.8 percent in German Bunds, 1 percent in French bonds and 2 percent for Italian and Spanish bonds.

Europe has been the epicentre of a rout as investors rushed to exit crowded long bond positions built up to take advantage of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing.

“Hedge funds were taking profits (in European bonds). There could be more profit-taking in the near term but bond yields can rise only so much considering the ECB’s quantitative easing,” said Fumio Nakakubo, chief investment officer at UBS in Tokyo.

Bonds were also helped by a fall in oil prices: A steady rise in oil prices since March had been cited as one reason behind the rout in bonds as higher oil prices tend to boost inflation – a major risk for fixed-income investors.

Brent crude oil futures slipped to $65.09 per barrel , stepping back from Wednesday’s five-month high of $69.63.

The yield on U.S. Treasuries, the benchmark for borrowing costs globally, also ended an eight-session rise to stand at 2.155 percent versus Thursday’s high of 2.312 percent.

China’s mainland stock index trimmed gains to be up 0.2 percent after news China’s exports contracted 6.4 percent in April from a year ago, sharply missing expectations for a 2.4 percent gain and fuelling fears about the health of the cooling Chinese economy. The Chinese yuan was flat at 6.2076 against the dollar.

Many investors now look to the U.S. employment report due later on Friday, with traders expecting nonfarm payrolls to recover to gains of 224,000 in April from a shockingly low 126,000 in March.

Another weak reading could deepen worries that the U.S. economy may not be gathering momentum.

“The U.S. economy had virtually a zero growth in January-March. If it remains weak after April, a rate hike by the Federal Reserve may be delayed further,” said Shuji Shirota, head of macro economics strategy at HSBC Securities in Tokyo.

In the currency market, the British pound jumped in heavy trade to as high as $1.5240, its highest since late February.

It last stood at $1.5475, up 1.5 percent from late U.S. levels as Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives looks set to continue to govern Britain.

The polls gave the Conservatives 316 of 650 seats in the lower house of parliament, still short of a majority but far better than expected.

“If the current flow of results were to pan out through the remainder of the day, the forecast result would remove a great deal of uncertainty for markets. It should also be positive for sterling and equities” analysts at Jefferies Hong Kong said in a note.

The euro sagged 0.5 percent from late U.S. levels to $1.1211 from a three-month high of $1.1392 hit on Thursday, on a fall in European bond yields and concerns about Greece’s precarious financing situation.

Greece defied its international creditors on Thursday, refusing to cut pensions or reverse re-hiring some public employees to meet their demands, dimming prospects of progress next week towards securing financial aid.

Athens is seen running out of cash ahead of its 750 million euro payment to the International Monetary Fund on May 12 but has refused to accede to unpopular reforms promised by a previous government.

Lenders have ruled out an agreement at next Monday’s meeting of euro zone finance ministers, raising fears Greece could default.