Mumbai, Dec 22 (IANS): Indian equities markets benchmark indices rallied for the second day Thursday on positive cues from European markets and a sharp drop in food inflation, raising hope for rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sooner than expected.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the negative at 15,546.66 points, witnessed a volatile trading and ended the day at 15,813.36 points, up 0.82 percent or 128.15 points from its previous close at 15,685.21 points.
Snapping a five-day losing streak, the benchmark Sensex had surged 510 points Wednesday.
The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also rallied for the second day after five straight session of slump. The Nifty climbed 0.87 percent to close at 4,733.85 points.
Broader markets and most of the sectoral indices also closed in the positive territory. The BSE midcap index advanced 0.78 percent and the BSE smallcap index closed 0.70 percent higher.
Realty, banking and power stocks led the rally in the market. The BSE realty index climbed 2.91 percent, banking index rose 2.27 percent and the power index climbed almost two percent.
Prominent Sensex gainers were: DLF, up 4.80 percent at Rs.197.60; Tata Motors, up 3.76 percent at Rs.183.70; ICICI Bank, up 3.52 percent at Rs.727.10; SBI, up 2.79 percent at Rs.1,668.45; and Tata Power, up 2.36 percent at Rs.88.90.
Only seven of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the red. Wipro, down 2.67 percent at Rs.396.70; Bharti Airtel, up 1.77 percent at Rs.335.45; Infosys, up 1.07 percent at Rs.2,714.80 and Coal India, up 0.96 percent at Rs.299.65 were the major losers of the day.
Other Asian markets showed mixed results. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.21 percent at 18,378.23 points. Japan's Nikkei closed 0.77 percent down at 8,395.16 points, while China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.10 percent at 2,341.34 points.
European markets rallied ahead of US jobless data, exasing unemployment ratio.
Britain's FTSE 100 was ruling 1.20 percent higher, German DAX index was 1.16 percent higher, and French CAC 40 was trading with a gain of 1.43 percent in the afternoon session.