Mumbai, Dec 13: Erasing intra-day losses, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today regained the 16k mark, moving up 132 points on fag-end value buying after three-day fall on investor hopes of a pause in interest rate hikes.
The Sensex, which had lost 1,007 points in the last three straight sessions, gained 132.16 points, or 0.83 per cent to 16,002.51, after touching the day's low of 15,771.59.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose 36 points or 0.76 per cent to 4,800.60, after touching the day's low of 4,728.50.
Initially, the market declined following a weak trend in Asia but strong openings in Europe helped the uptrend.
Brokers said that last 30-minute rally was backed by value-buying in fundamentally strong stocks, following 6 per cent fall in the last three days.
They said investors also bought on expectations that in view of sharp decline in industrial growth and the slowing economy, RBI may pause hike in interest rates at its meeting on Friday.
The Reserve Bank has raised its lending rates 13 times since March 2010 to curb inflation, making consumer and corporates costly.
The rally was led by Reliance Industries and Infosys, which spurt 2.02 per cent and 0.86 per cent. The two carry about 20 per cent Sensex.
Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, Jindal Steel, SBI, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Sterlite Industries, Sun Pharma and BHEL were the other major gainers.
