Sensex gains 70 points

Bulls made a smart gain on Tuesday as buying resumed in blue chips after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left the bank rate unchanged. While...

Bulls made a smart gain on Tuesday as buying resumed in blue chips after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left the bank rate unchanged. While buying was broad-based, technology and metal stocks led the recovery on the bourses in a volatile trade.

Snapping its three-session losing streak, the 30-share BSE Sensitive index (Sensex) ended with a solid gain of 69.60 points, or 1.25 per cent, at 5,651.09. The benchmark index had shed 156.62 points in the previous three sessions. The NSE S&P CNX Nifty index gained 23.80 points to end at 1,781.05.

The market displayed volatility in intra-day trades. It opened steady and rose in early trades on value buying. Stocks declined in early afternoon trades after RBI raised repo rates and cut the GDP growth forecast. However, the market recovered smartly from the lower levels in the afternoon on renewed buying at lower levels.

While the recovery in the market was partly attributed to bargain hunting, players said a good amount of short covering towards the expiry of futures also helped. ‘‘The RBI move to leave the bank rate unchanged boosted the market. It indicates that the bias is still towards the soft interest rate regime,’’ said a BSE dealer.