Sensex closes 85 points higher on Obama win

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A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed 85 points higher in Wednesday's trade on hopes of more foreign institutional investment after US President Barrack Obama won a second term in office.

Bank, auto, capital goods and realty stocks saw increased buying interest.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the negative at 18,802.82 points, closed at 18,902.41 points, up 0.45 percent or 85.03 points from its previous day close at 18,817.38 points.

An Obama win early on Wednesday wiped away the uncertainty that had engulfed markets across the globe for the past few days. In India, traders, investors and dealers believe that another round of quantitative easing (QE), or loose monetary policy, can now be expected leading to greater FII flows into the capital market.

The benchmark Sensex touched a high of 18,973.43 points and a low of 18,786.14 points in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index was up by 52.91 points, while the smallcap index logged 51.70 points higher.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange ended 0.62 percent or 35.70 points higher at 5,760.10 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE bank index was up by 141.60 points followed by the auto index, up 65.96 points, capital goods index, up 56.21 points, and realty index, up 51.05 points.

Among the main Sensex gainers were HDFC, up 1.92 percent at Rs.797.35; State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.91 percent at Rs.2,214.35; BHEL, up 1.70 percent at Rs.236.40; Hindalco Inds, up 1.02 percent at Rs.113.70; and ICICI Bank, up 0.96 percent at Rs.1,092.25.

The major losers were Tata Power, down 2.44 percent at Rs.103.85; Bharti Airtel, down 0.88 percent at Rs.271.10; Coal India, down 0.88 percent at Rs.348.15; RIL, down 0.58 percent at Rs.800.45; and Cipla, down 0.19 percent at Rs.395.60.

Bharti Airtel, in its quarterly results, reported that net profit slumped 29.7 percent to Rs.721.2 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30 as increasing competition hit profit margins. This was the 11th consecutive quarter of decline in the company's profit.

After initial highs, other Asian markets shed the gains. Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.03 percent, while Shanghai's Composite Index was down by 0.01 percent. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 0.71 percent higher.

The European markets fared better. At closing bell here, London's FTSE 100 was up 0.36 percent. So were Germany's DAX, up 0.44 percent, and France's CAC 40, up 0.61 percent.