Markets ended higher for the second consecutive week as the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex surged by 650 points to conclude at a three-week high of 19,270.06 on sustained buying mainly in banking, PSU and refinery sectors.
It was primarily due to various plans announced by the new Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan to bolster the financial industry.
Brokers said market sentiment remained bullish after Rajan took over as the RBI chief and announced a slew of measures to attract capital flows and boost economic growth.
The banking sector index rose by 9.99 per cent after Rajan raised the overseas borrowing cap for banks and said there is a need to cut investments by lenders in government securities. Rajan also said banks would soon be free to open branches.
Renewed buying by foreign institutional investors also boosted sentiment as they bought a net Rs 1,782.81 crore of shares during the week including the provisional figure of September 6, as per provisional stock exchange data.
“Markets have reacted on cues from the currency markets,” said Dipen Shah, head of private client group research at Kotak Securities. “Further initiatives on the rupee and on fiscal reforms will help in taking the markets higher.”
The rupee ended higher at 65.24 per dollar as against the weekend’s level of 65.70 per dollar as India and Japan expanded their currency swap arrangement to $50 billion from $15 billion in a bid to strengthen bilateral financial cooperation and stabilise the global financial markets.