INVESTOR WEALTH ZOOMS BY 1 LAKH CRORES

Investor wealth today soared by over Rs 1 lakh crore helped by the BSE benchmark Sensex's nearly 390-point surge on hopes of a aggressive rate cut by RBI and expectations of a lower fiscal deficit on falling prices of crude oil and gold. The Sensex ended the day 387.13 points higher at 18,744.93 and the NSE's 50-share Nifty closed with a gain of 120.55 points at 5,688.95. Led by the rally in the stock market, the investor wealth soared by over Rs one lakh crore to Rs 64.24 lakh crore. Among the Sensex constituents, 27 ended up, with Maruti emerging as the biggest gainer with 4.23 per cent rise. Overall market breadth remained positive as 1,338 scrips finished higher while 1,022 counters ended lower. Among the BSE 13 sectoral indices, 11 settled with gains led by banking index. In the market 1,338 stocks advanced. "Markets have taken cheer from better than anticipated WPI inflation. Inflation is a keystone parameter and improvement in the same can have cascading positives for the economy, leading to upsurge in cyclical and rate sensitive stocks. It has also raised expectations of a rate cut in the RBI's next policy meet," said Lalit Thakkar, Managing Director Institution, Angel Broking. The recent deceleration of gold and crude prices is also constructive for macros and a correction is likely to lend a favorable bias to the current account deficit, which is one of our key concern areas, he said adding decline in crude prices is also a big positive for the markets, as it will help in narrowing the fiscal deficit and keeping inflationary pressures in check. ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, SBI, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors saw good buying on rate cut hopes. Investors are hoping that the central bank would ease monetary policy next month to boost growth, experts said. There is an 80 per cent probability that the Reserve Bank will cut repo rate by 0.25 per cent in its monetary policy review on May 3, but it is "not a done deal", leading global brokerage firm Nomura said in a research note today. Oil marketing companies such as BPCL gained for a second day on hopes that fall in crude prices would lower the cost of under-recoveries.