Sensex climbs for 2nd day amid firm global cues; Titan jumps 6 pc

Market benchmarks darted up for the second straight session on Thursday, propped up by robust buying in consumption, metal, and bank stocks amid a bullish trend overseas.

However, a depreciating rupee and foreign fund outflows capped the gains, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 427.49 points or 0.80 percent to close at 54,178.46. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 143.10 points or 0.89 percent to 16,132.90.

Titan was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, spurting 5.69 percent after the Tata group firm reported a three-fold jump in sales for the April-June quarter.

Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, M&M, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and HDFC Bank were the other major gainers, rising to 4.88 percent.

In contrast, Dr. Reddy's, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, HUL, and Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards, shedding as much as 1.26 percent.

The market breadth was positive, with 21 of the 30 Sensex stocks closing in the green.

''Domestic bourses mirrored an upbeat mood in global equity markets as investors digested the latest FOMC minutes while falling crude and commodity prices lifted investor sentiments. This upside momentum could dominate the markets in the near-term, underpinned by hopes of reducing inflation,'' said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The RBI's latest measures to boost foreign exchange inflows are expected to aid the tumbling rupee, he added.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said supportive global cues triggered a gap-up opening in the benchmarks.

''The recent uptick in the index has certainly eased some pressure but the key is to sustain amid mixed sentiment. Apart from the global markets, the focus will be on IT major TCS results for cues,'' he noted.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.30 percent and the midcap index went higher by 1.19 percent.

All the BSE sectoral indices ended higher, with metal advancing the most by 4.49 percent, followed by consumer durables (3.24 percent), realty (2.55 percent), basic materials (2.22 percent), capital goods (2.01 percent), and industrials (1.73 percent).

World stocks marched higher despite the US Federal Reserve's minutes of its previous meeting indicating a hawkish stance, with a rate hike of 75 basis points likely in July to tame inflation. The minutes were released on Wednesday.

In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ended higher.

European bourses too were trading in the positive zone in mid-session deals. The US markets had clocked gains on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude inched up 0.05 percent to USD 100.7 per barrel.

The rupee declined 19 paise to close at 79.13 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday.

Foreign institutional investors resumed selling after a day's breather, offloading shares worth a net Rs 330.13 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.