Sensex recovers by 51 pts, Nifty regains 6K-mark

The BSE benchmark index Sensex recovered by over 51 points to end at 19,742.52 points on the back of late buying in FMCG and banking stocks amid weak Asian and mixed European cues.

The wide-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange regained the 6,000 mark, helped by gains in FMCG giant ITC and housing finance major HDFC. The Nifty closed up by 13.30 points at 6,001.70 points.

ITC and HDFC were the top gainers from the Sensex pack and contributed the most to the index gains, mainly helping in the fag-end recovery.

The BSE barometer initially moved in a narrow range in the negative terrain till late afternoon due to fall Asian markets, as investors adopted cautious approach after recent smart rally and also ahead of earnings season, brokers said.

But fag-end pushed it up to settle at 19,742.52, a rise of 51.10 points. Yesterday, it had dropped by 92.66 points. Banking major SBI rose by 1.07 per cent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock along with two other banks on hopes of rate cut by the Reserve Bank.

ITC rose by 2.18 per cent while HDFC gained 1.95 per cent. Bharti Airtel, TCS, ONGC and Sun Pharma also surged while Infosys, L&T, RIL, TCS and Wipro suffered losses and restricted the sensex rise.

Country's second largest software services exporters, Infosys lost 1.41 per cent ahead of its third quarter results scheduled to be announced on Friday.

Asian stocks ended lower today. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan were down between 0.40 per cent and 0.94 per cent.

However, European markets were trading mixed with upward bias in their afternoon deals. The CAC was up by 0.30 per cent and the FTSE by 0.12 per cent while the DAX was down by 0.13 per cent.

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