Sensex Rallies, Investors Wealth Up by Rs 3.24 Lakh Cr

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) Investors' wealth grew by Rs 3.24 lakh crore on Thursday as the BSE Sensex jumped nearly 1 per cent after a two-day slide.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 490.97 points or 0.69 per cent to settle at 71,847.57. During the day, it rallied 598.19 points or 0.83 per cent to 71,954.79.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies climbed Rs 3,24,010.1 crore to hit an all-time high of Rs 3,68,32,843.41 crore.

"Market bounced back after the last two negative trading days led by strong monthly business updates of leading banks, emphasizing robust credit growth. The realty sector was the highest gainer in anticipation of robust demand in the residential category, which was supported by healthy housing loans disbursement data announced by banks," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance jumped 4.44 per cent and NTPC climbed 3.54 per cent. IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Nestle, Power Grid, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv and HDFC Bank were the other major winners.

HCL Tech, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the negative territory.

European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.49 per cent and smallcap index climbed 1.04 per cent.

Among the indices, realty zoomed 6.61 per cent, utilities jumped 2.55 per cent, telecommunication (2.09 per cent), services (1.68 per cent), financial services (1.30 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.82 per cent).

Auto and metal were the laggards.

"With economic activity remaining buoyant, expectations of a healthy corporate earnings announcement could keep the mood upbeat going ahead," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.