Sensex, Nifty clock gains led by banks; investors wealth up over 1 L Cr in a day

Global cues were mixed as investors shift their focus to quarterly earnings and central bank meeting outcomes. Top European markets, including UK’s FTSE, French CAC 40 and German DAX, traded in the red; among the Asian peers, Shanghai Composite Index ended over half a per cent higher but Japan’s Nikkei traded with gains.

Sensex opened 219 points higher at 59,873.71 and rose as much as 447 points to hit the intraday high of 60,101.64.

The 30-share pack closed 401 points, or 0.67 percent, higher at 60,056.10 while the Nifty closed at 17,743.40, up 119 points, or 0.68 percent.

The overall market-capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to ₹266.3 lakh crore from ₹265 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by ₹1.3 lakh crore in a day.

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The market has been in the phase of consolidation for a long time amid lingering concerns over rate hikes and their impact on global economic growth.

Analysts point out that the Indian economy, even though significantly resilient, cannot keep itself completely unaffected by the global economic slowdown. Therefore, global cues will remain a dominant factor for the Indian market.

The gains were broad-based as the second-rung indices, mid and smallcaps also ended with gains. The BSE Midcap index rose 0.47 percent while the Smallcap index logged a gain of 0.34 percent.

Crude oil prices traded lower as concerns over rate hikes and a slowdown in the global economy clouded the outlook for fuel demand. Brent Crude traded near the $81 per barrel mark.

The rupee rose 18 paise to end at 81.91 per dollar, Bloomberg data showed. The currency was supported by healthy gains in the domestic market and softer crude oil prices.

Over 100 stocks, including ITC, Bajaj Auto and Godrej Consumer Products, hit their fresh 52-week high in intraday trade on BSE.

Top Nifty gainers and losers

As many as 36 stocks ended with gains in the Nifty index while 13 ended lower and one stock – SBI Life Insurance Company – ended flat.

Shares of HDFC Life Insurance Company (up 6.40 percent), Tata Consumer Products (up 4.87 per cent) and Wipro (up 2.69 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty index.

On the flip side, those of Dr Reddy’s Labs (down 1.37 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 1.34 per cent) and Cipla (down 1.15 per cent) ended as the top losers in the Nifty pack.

“The positive market sentiment in the domestic market was boosted by strong earnings reported by heavyweights. This led to a reversal in the cautiousness from the initial below-expectation Q4 results. However, the weak global sentiment did raise some concerns midway. But the banking sector played a key role in this upward trend, with sector majors reporting strong earnings,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Barring Nifty Media (down 1.31 per cent), Pharma (down 0.73 per cent), Healthcare (down 0.60 per cent) and Auto (down 0.04 per cent), all sectoral indices ended with gains.

Banking stocks stole the limelight today.

Nifty PSU Bank index jumped 2.61 percent, followed by Nifty Financial Services, Bank, Private Bank and Realty indices each rising over a per cent.

Analysts point out that the Nifty managed to close above 17,700 which indicates that it has started the next leg of up move.

The index managed to hold on to the lower end of the rising channel and the 200-day moving average (17,615) on the daily chart which is a bullish sign.

Jatin Gedia, a technical research analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas believes that in terms of the Elliott Wave Principle, the Nifty has started wave five after consolidation in wave four.

“The daily momentum indicator has a negative crossover and since prices have resumed their up move, it is likely that the momentum indicator shall provide a positive crossover over the next few trading sessions,” Gedia said.

“Considering the above parameters, we change the short-term outlook to positive and expect the Nifty to target levels of 18,100. In terms of levels, 17,620 – 17,600 shall act as a crucial support zone while 17,860 – 17,900 is the immediate hurdle zone for the Nifty,” said Gedia.