Indias service sector hit 7-year high; Sensex gain 353 points

Sensex ended today’s trading session above 353 points after a survey released on Wednesday stated that the growth of India’s service sector has hit a seven year high in January. The survey gives hope of economic recovery on the basis of a strong domestic demand. As a result, Sensex closed up by 0.87 at 41,142.66 levels and Nifty closed up by 0.94 per cent at 12,090.25 levels.

IHS Markit, London-based global information provider, released India Services Business Activity Index which shows that the index has increased to 55.5 in January as compared to 53.3 in December. It indicates the strongest growth since January 2013.

The top five gainers on S&P BSE Sensex are: Tata Steel-up by 5.14 per cent, Bharti Airtel-up by 2.77 per cent, TCS-up by 1.91 per cent, HDFC-up by 1.85 per cent and L&T-up by 1.57 per cent.

S&P BSE Mid-cap inched up by 1.35 per cent and closed at 15,708.17 levels while, S&P BSE Small-cap clocked up gain by 0.74 per cent and managed to close at 14,653.51 levels. The three star performers of S&P BSE Small-cap stocks are: CAPPL-up by 19.99 per cent, Swan Energy-up by 19.97 per cent and Marksans Pharma-up by 14.33 per cent.

The top three sectoral indices today are: S&P BSE Metal-up by 2.90 per cent, S&P BSE Telecom-up by 2.58 per cent and S&P BSE Realty-up by 2.56 per cent.