Sensex spurts on European bounce

With this, the Nifty closed at a new 30-month high. It was also the highest closing for the 50-share index since February 2008 Indian stock indices ended near the day's highs on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty surpassing 18,000 and 5,400 respectively, as European markets rebounded following a strong PMI report.



With this, the Nifty closed at a new 30-month high. It was also the highest closing for the 50-share index since February 2008. Indian stocks struggled for direction throughout the session in the wake of the overnight fall in US stocks but the sentiment started turning around in the last one and a half hours, tracking the bounce in the European markets.

The Sensex closed at 18,113, up 135 points or 0.8% over the last close. It had earlier been as high as 18,127 and as low as 17,879 after opening at 17,978.

The Nifty on the other hand ended 5,441, up 43 points or 0.8% after touching a high of 5,447 and a low of 5,372. It opened at 5,399.

The BSE Small-Cap index and the BSE Mid-Cap index rose by 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

Consumer Durables, Metals and Auto indices were the top gainers with their respective BSE indices up 1% to 1.4%. Select FMCG, Realty, PSU, Capital Goods and Banking stocks too advanced.

Power, Oil & Gas, Pharma indices gained up to 0.5% while the IT index finished in red.

M&M, Bharti Airtel, Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, SBI, ITC, HDFC, Sterlite, Jindal Steel, DLF, HDFC Bank, RCOM, Cairn, GAIL, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Unitech, Suzlon, Idea, Ambuja Cements and Ranbaxy were the leading gainers in the Sensex and Nifty.

ACC, Reliance Infra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Power, Infosys, BPCL and Kotak Bank were the notable losers.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong too managed to pull back and finished 100 points higher, while markets in China rose for the fourth day in a row. The Nikkei in Tokyo ended 0.6% lower, falling for a fifth straight session.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.8%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.9% and Taiwan's Taiex shed 0.5%.

The euro got a lift as German and French purchasing managers' index (PMI) readings for July beat forecasts.

The preliminary estimate of Germany's composite PMI rose to 59.3 from 56.7 in June, according to Markit Economics.

The French PMI rose to 59.9 in July from June's 59.6.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 1.4% at 252.72, having gained 1.1% over the past two sessions. Key stock benchmarks in Germany, France and the UK gained between 1-1.5%.

Stocks accelerated gains after the EU statistics agency reported that industrial orders in the euro zone rose 3.8% in May. Compared to the same month last year, sales rose 22.7%. Economists had forecast flat monthly orders and a 20% year-on-year rise.

Also, the Markit euro-zone composite purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 56.7 in July, its highest level in three months, from a reading of 56.0 in June.

The euro was last seen up 0.7% at $1.2841 versus $1.2764 in late North American trading on Wednesday.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, fell 0.7% to 82.76 from 83.298.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped by over 100 points, S&P 500 futures added 13.10 points and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 21 points.

The Dow had dropped 109.43 points, or 1.1%, with all but four of its 30 components losing ground.

The losses followed Congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who described the economic outlook for the US economy as "unusually uncertain."