Sensex closes 318 pts higher at 33,351, Nifty rises to 10,242 level; SBI, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports top gainers

The Sensex and Nifty snapped the six-day losing streak on Thursday following a strong Asian market closing on easing fears of a global trade war as the White House signalled it would water down plans for contentious metal tariffs. Short covering also led to the bounce back, said analysts. While the Sensex closed 318 points higher to 33,351 level, the Nifty rose 88 points to 10,242 level.

The key indices rose in the last hour of trade supported by lenders such as ICICI Bank (3.58%), HDFC Bank  (0.93%) and SBI (4.09%).

SBI (4.09%), ICICI Bank (3.58%), and Adani Ports (2.95%) were the top  Sensex gainers.

Karthikraj Lakshmanan, senior fund manager-equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund said markets ended the session on a strong footing as worries surrounding  the trade war eased after it was reported that the United States import tariff plan may spare select countries from much of the impact. Both the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty finally closed the day with gains of over 0.50%. Sectoral performance was a mixed bag today. While the healthcare, FMCG and metals indices on the National Stock exchange (NSE) traded lower, gains of over 1% were witnessed in the banking indices.

The recovery was led by banking sector stocks with BSE bankex rising 389 points or 1.43% to 27559 points.

Bank Nifty rose 343 points or 1.42% to 24,477 level, after recovering over 400 points from the day's lows.

Brokers said buying by domestic institutional investors amid a firm trend at other Asian bourses led the markets higher.

Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 409.34 crore, while foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 719.78 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

Market breadth was negative with 1202 stocks closing higher against 1511 ending in the red on BSE.

Global markets

Share prices rose in Europe and Asia on Thursday after China reported its exports surged nearly 45 percent in February from a year earlier.

Germany's DAX slipped 0.1 percent to 12,234.80 and the CAC 40 of France edged 0.1 percent higher to 5,194.25. Britain's FTSE was flat at 7,154.64. S&P 500 futures were flat at 2,722.70 and Dow futures fell 0.1 percent to 24,964.00, pointing to a downbeat start on Wall Street.

ASIA: Japan's Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1 percent higher to 21,368.07 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.5 percent to 30,654.52. Australia's S&P ASX 200 surged 0.7 percent to 5,942.90 and the Kospi in South Korea gained 1.3 percent to 2,433.08. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5 percent to 3,288.41. Shares also were higher in Southeast Asia.