Sensex rises 266 pts; ignores slowing GDP, manufacturing fall

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Mumbai: The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex on Monday shot up another 266 points as positive data from overseas outweighed concerns about the country's slowing economic growth and contraction in manufacturing.
The rise was led by heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries. Metals, FMCG and realty stocks advanced on gains in the Asian and European markets. "Recovery in Asian and European markets post positive China data boosted the market sentiment," said Nidhi Saraswat, senior research analyst at Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.
"GDP data had been disappointing at 4.4 per cent. However it didn't affect the market much as this had been already discounted." The 30-share Sensex resumed higher stayed in positive terrain through the day before ending at 18,886.13, a rise of 266.41 points or 1.43 per cent.
It was the fourth session of gains for the index, which is at the highest level since the August 14 close of 19,367.59. ITC and Reliance Industries climbed 3.75 per cent and 3.78 per cent, respectively, and together contributed over 140 points to the index's gain.
The broader Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange rose 78.95 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 5,550.75. The SX40 index on the MCX-SX, closed at 11,176.25, up 237.76 points. The country's GDP growth slipped to 4.4 per cent in the April-June quarter, the slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis, compared with 4.8 per cent in the January-March period and 5.4 per cent a year earlier.
The HSBC/Markit purchasing managers index (PMI) for India's manufacturing industry contracted for the first time in over four and a half years and stood at 48.5 in August. The stock markets shrugged off the negative news and continued its rally on the back of firm trends in Asia and Europe.
A gauge of China's manufacturing rose to a 16-month high, boosting investor confidence in the global recovery. Brokers said easing crude oil prices might help in cooling inflation and trimming the current account deficit.
Most Asian stocks ended higher, with key indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore finishing higher, while South Korea eased and China ruled steady. In Europe, indices in UK, France and Germany firmed up.
In the domestic market, 23 Sensex shares advanced, led by Tata Steel (5.54 pc). Other gainers were Maruti Suzuki (4.45 pc), Hindalco (3.77 pc), Coal India (2.91 pc) and ICICI Bank (2.81 pc).
The index losers included M&M (1.86 pc), Tata Power (1.78 pc), HDFC Bank (0.78 pc) and Infosys (0.74 pc). All the sectoral indices gained. S&P BSE-Metal rose by 3.16 pc, S&P BSE-FMCG 3.1 pc, S&P BSE-Realty 3 pc, S&P BSE-Oil&Gas 2.55 pc and S&P BSE-CD 1.76 pc.
The market breadth remained positive with 1,400 stocks ending with gains, 851 finishing with losses and 149 ruling steady. Total turnover dropped to Rs 1,721.63 crore from Rs 2,952.59 crore last Friday. Foreign institutional investors sold a net Rs 78.85 crore of shares last Friday, as per provisional figures issued by the stock exchanges.