Sensex climbs 134 points as bears take a break despite

EQUITY benchmarks snapped a five-session losing streak on Wednesday, shrugging off global concerns like rising inflation in the US and signs of renewed strength in crude oil prices. Yet, market watchers are not hopeful of a sustainable rally anytime soon as the engines of the economy appear to be under strain. The 30-share Sensex rose 134 points to close at 14,678, up 0.9% over the previous close. The broader S&P CNX Nifty closed at 4,415, up 1% its previous close. But the real action was in mid-cap stocks, with the representative BSE Midcap gaining over 1% to close at 5,826. “There is a lot of promoter buying in mid-cap stocks, which indicates that the companies see value at these levels,” Religare Securities president Amitabh Chakraborty. This is the time to invest in selective stocks instead of taking a view on the sector as a whole, he added. Among sectoral indices, BSE Realty, Power and Capital Goods were the best performers, rising more than 1% over their previous close. Key fertiliser stocks rose between 2-6% after the ministry of fertilisers approved a proposal to give Rs 22,000 crore in cash to fertiliser companies as subsidy, apart from the budgetary allocation of Rs 32,000 crore. Union minister of chemicals & fertilisers and steel Ram Vilas Paswan has said that the finance ministry has cleared Rs 22,000 crore in cash as subsidy for fertiliser companies. He said that the second tranche of Rs 32,000-crore subsidy would also be paid in cash. With the move expected to improve the cash flow positions of fertiliser companies, investors loaded up on shares like Tata Chemicals, Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals, Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals, Zuari Industries, National Fertliser and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers. Hopes of a hike in tyre prices stirred up interest in tyre stocks. Among key gainers, shares of JK Industries, Goodyear India, Ceat, Apollo Tyres and MRF rose 1-5%. Analysts expect manufacturers to hike product prices to offset steep rises in prices of natural rubber and rubber chemicals.