Value buying buoys equity markets

Mumbai, Sep 30 (IANS) Value buying and short covering, along with a recovering rupee, buoyed the Indian equity markets on Friday.

Both the key indices traded in the green during the late-afternoon session, as healthy buying was witnessed in automobile, oil and gas, and banking stocks.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) edged up 29.80 points or 0.35 per cent to 8,621.05 points.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 27,807.82 points, traded at 27,905.57 points (at 2.30 p.m.) -- up by 78.04 points or 0.28 per cent from the previous close at 27,827.53 points.

The Sensex has touched a high of 27,911.07 points and a low of 27,716.78 points during the intra-day trade so far.

The BSE market breadth was skewed in favour of the bulls -- with 1,859 advances and 702 declines.

On Thursday, the key Indian equity indices took a sharp fall after the Indian Army said it had carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, inflicting "significant casualties".

The barometer index had ended with a loss of 465.28 points, or a 1.64 per cent, while the NSE Nifty closed lower by 153.90 points, or 1.76 per cent.

"The markets are trading with volatility, as investors are not willing to push prices further," Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS.

"However, yesterday's falls had attracted some value buying, which have arrested the falls and the key indices have recovered from the days' lows. Gains were capped on the back of lower European and Asian markets."

--IANS

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