Late buying lifts Sensex, exit polls take centre-stage

Mumbai, Dec 14 (PTI) Stocks summoned courage and left early losses behind with a gain of 194 points at the close today as investors shifted their attention to exit poll results of Gujarat election.

The NSE Nifty went above the 10,250-mark on some fag-end buying.

India’s economic growth has bottomed out and will recover further to 7 per cent over the next few quarters, but it is likely to take a few years to return to 7.5 per cent above levels, Standard Chartered said in a research report.

In the report on Economic Outlook in 2018, it said the worst is behind for India’s GDP growth, forecasting a growth figure of 6.5 per cent for 2017-18 and 7.2 per cent in the year thereafter.

The 30-share BSE Sensex bounced back in the last one hour of the session to hit a high of 33,321.52 before closing up 193.66 points — or 0.59 per cent — at 33,246.70.

The gauge had lost 402.75 points in the previous two sessions disappointed by grim economic data and the ADB lowering India’s economic growth forecast.

The 50-issue NSE Nifty in range-bound movements settled higher by 59.15 points, or 0.58 per cent, at 10,252.10.

Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,276.10 and 10,141.55.