Sensex gains 350 points on easing of wholesale inflation

The benchmark indices regain their vigour. Nifty reclaimed 11,000 level. The BSE Sensex closed at 37,311.53, up by 353.37 points or 0.96 per cent on Wednesday, while Nifty ended at 11,029.40, up by 103.55 points or 0.95 per cent.

Market sentiments improved on the back of positive global cues arising from the US government delaying proposed 10 per cent tariff hike slated to be implied on Chinese goods from September onwards.

The WPI inflation in July dipped to 1.08 per cent from 2.02 in June due to cheaper fuel and food prices. For the month, WPI manufactured products inflation was at 0.34 per cent as against 0.94 per cent a month ago, WPI fuel & power inflation was at negative 3.64 per cent as against 2.20 per cent and food item inflation was at 6.15 per cent as against 6.98 per cent in June. This dip in WPI inflation is expected to provide RBI room for another rate cut.

On the BSE Exchange, 1,311 companies advanced, while 1,164 declined and 140 remained unchanged. The top gainers of Sensex were Vedanta, Tata Steel and Yes Bank up more than 4 per cent each, Tech Mahindra, Hero Moto, Bharti Airtel closed up by more than 2 per cent each. Among the top losers were Sun Pharma down by 4.69 per cent and Tata Motor, Kotak Bank, ONGC down around 1 per cent on Wednesday.

Among the Nifty heavyweights ICICI Bank and Reliance contributed positive 10.2 points each, Infy and HDFC contribute more than positive 7 points each, while Axis Bank, L&T and SBI contributed around positive 6 points to Nifty50. The biggest draggers of Nifty were Kotak Bank contributing negative 7.67 points and Sun Pharma negative 5.85 points.