Mumbai: The US Federal Reserve held rates, crude cooled a shade and institutional buyers returned. Dalal Street took all three and ran.
The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 905.01 points, or 1.24 per cent, higher at 74,151.04. The NSE Nifty gained 237.90 points, or 1.05 per cent, to settle at 22,936.75, while Bank Nifty added 642.25 points to end at 54,909.65.
The market value of BSE-listed companies swelled by Rs 4,72,033.20 crore in a single session. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 both gained close to 1 per cent, so the buying was not confined to the heavyweights.
Adani Ports led the Sensex pack with a 5.17 per cent gain after the company reported an 18 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,682.44 crore for the September quarter. Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 3.86 per cent, Power Grid 3.70 per cent, Eternal 3.46 per cent and Bajaj Finance 2.56 per cent. State Bank of India and Hindustan Unilever gained 2.43 per cent each, Titan 2.40, NTPC 2.32 and Bharat Electronics 2.27 per cent.
On the sectoral side, Nifty Realty climbed 2.7 per cent and Nifty FMCG 2.3 per cent, while the PSU Bank index rose 2.2 per cent. Auto was the lone index in the red, down 0.24 per cent. Trent, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra and HDFC Bank were among the losers.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, said the Fed's pause, a marginal easing in crude and renewed institutional buying had improved risk appetite "despite a challenging external backdrop". FMCG led on resilient consumer demand while financials, IT, realty and power strengthened, he said.
He also flagged what could spoil the mood. Brent at around $114 a barrel keeps imported inflation and the current account under pressure, the rupee is weak and domestic bond yields are rising. "Elevated input costs could test margin durability," Nair said.
Individual stocks moved sharply. Equitas Small Finance Bank fell between 12 and 20 per cent after Managing Director and CEO P N Vasudevan resigned to pursue personal and social initiatives. Birlasoft posted its biggest single-day gain in over five years, rising 12 per cent after its second-quarter results, and V-Guard jumped nearly 8 per cent on strong numbers.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 871.83 crore on Wednesday and domestic institutions Rs 643.35 crore, according to data available on Thursday.