Greece bailout hope: Sensex ends 136 points higher on late buying

After witnessing a lacklustre trend for better part of the trading session, stocks rebounded sharply in the last hour of trade as investors scampered to cover their short positions on reports the crisis-hit Greece government may consider European Union proposal, which would result in the creditors extending fresh line of bailout package to the debt-laden country on condition of implementing strict austerity measures.

In tandem with recovery in other Asian markets, the 30-share BSE S&P CNX Sensex snapped the two-session fall to end higher at 27,780.83, up 135.68 points, or 0.5 percent from its previous close. The broader 50-share CNX Nifty closed at 8,368.50, up 50.10 points, or 0.6 percent.

Other Asian indices such as Hang Seng and Nikkie also ended in positive territory with gains of a percent each. On the other hand, key European gauges continue to remain weak and were down over 1 percent each in mid-noon trades.

The markets displayed a listless trading in the first half with index falling to the day’s low of 27,571, down 74 points, as investors stayed on the sidelines amid worries that Greece could be on the verge of defaulting on its €1.6 billion loan today.

However, markets came out of its dull session towards the close on reports talks are being held to stitch a last-minute deal, helping the index to touch a high of 27,814.53, up 170 points.

Market breadth ended positive with 1,730 stocks ending in the gainers list as against 960 losers on BSE.

Investors lapped up several frontline shares focusing on the country’s improving macro-economic postion. Shares of Coal India rose 3.1 percent to Rs 421.05, Tata Steel jumped 3 percent to Rs 304.70, Lupin gained 2.9 percent to Rs 1,886.85, Sun Pharma added 2.9 percent to Rs 874.20 and Hindustan Unilever was up 1.8 percent at Rs 916.45.

Shares of FMCG major Nestle notched up significant gains, ending 4.6 percent higher at Rs 6,345.65 after getting a court relief to export all nine variants of noodle brand Maggi, even as the ban on selling it in India remains.