Andrew L Dcunha

Mumbai, Sep 20: The BSE benchmark Sensex today spurted by 354 points to regain the 17,000-level on good buying support on the back of firming global stocks. The Sensex opened on a firm note. The index touched a high of 17,135 and finally ended up 354 points, or 2%, at 17,099. Nifty crossed the 5,100 mark and ended up 108 points at 5,140.  Hectic buying was seen across  all sectors.  BSE IT index has jumped 3.2% to 5,218 on a declining rupee.

Tata Consultancy Services rose 3.9 per cent and Infosys added 3.1 per cent and  Wipro jumped 2.9 per cent. Indian rupee fell to Rs 48.23, its weakest level in two years today. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a majority share of revenue from export. The Indian rupee was down by 44 paise at a fresh two-year low of Rs 48.25 per US dollar in early trade today on persistent demand for the American currency from banks and importers on the back of dollar firmness in overseas market.  

Reliance Industries jumped 3.8% to Rs 852 after its subsidiary – Reliance Security Solutions – and Siemens signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop homeland security solutions for safe, secure and smart cities and highways in India.
In Europe, bourses opened in the red but managed to recover. The DAX jumped 1.2% to 5,481. CAC and FTSE have gone up 0.5% each. Asian markets ended in green with Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite gaining 0.5% each. Nikkei caught up with Monday's losses and ended down 1.6% at 8,721.

Gold down

Gold and Silver declined today on reduced offtake by stockists and jewellery makers amid a weak trend in overseas markets. While gold fell by Rs 310 to Rs 28,300 per 10 grams, silver lost Rs 800 to Rs 64,200 per kg on reduced offtake by stockists and jewellers at higher levels. Trading sentiment turned bearish after gold fell in global markets as concerns about the worsening European debt crisis drove the euro lower against the dollar.