Benchmark indices continued their rally for the fifth day on Thursday amid fag-end recovery in equities led by buying in IT stocks. Bouncing back from its early fall, Sensex climbed 95.71 points or 0.16 per cent to end at 59,202.90. During the day, it hit a high of 59,273.85 and a low of 58,791.28. Nifty ended 51.70 points or 0.30 per cent higher at 17,563.95.
HCL Technologies (2.22%), Tech Mahindra (2.14%), NTPC (1.89%), PowerGrid (1.73%), Bajaj Finserv (1.55%), Nestle (1.52%) and Bharti Airtel (1.23%) were among the Sensex gainers. IndusInd Bank was the top Sensex loser, falling 4.71 per cent followed by Asian Paints (2.26%), UltraTech Cement (1.50%), HDFC Bank (0.66%), Titan (0.56%) and Axis Bank (0.51%).
Of 30 Sensex shares, 18 closed higher.
ALSO READ: Why are Indian stocks defying global weakness? Alok Agarwal of Alchemy Capital explains
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, “Nifty remained volatile during the session as Nifty recovered from the day’s low to close around the high. The 50EMA remained below the index value on the daily chart, confirming the ongoing uptrend. The momentum indicator on the daily chart remained in the bullish crossover. The short-term trend remains positive with the potential to take the Nifty towards 17700. On the lower end, support is visible at 17,400.”
Market breadth was negative with 1,567 stocks ending higher against 1,866 stocks falling on BSE. 138 shares were unchanged. Market cap of BSE-listed firms stood at Rs 274.57 lakh crore. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 453.91 crore, as per exchange data.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities said, “Markets staged a smart recovery towards the fag-end helped by strong gains in IT stocks. Despite bearishness in Asian and European indices, Indian markets maintained their winning streak as investors remain optimistic about our growth story. The world economy remains mired under several negative factors, but the local economy has managed to stay resilient despite challenges from the external front. After a gap down opening the Nifty held the crucial support level of 17400 and bounced back sharply thereafter. It has also formed a bullish candle on daily charts and closed above the 50-day SMA, which is broadly positive. For Nifty bulls, 17,400 -17,450 could be the key support zones, above which the index could move up to 17700-17750. On the flip side, uptrend would be vulnerable below 17400.”
IT and oil and gas shares were the top sectoral gainers with their BSE indices zooming 339 points and 309 points, respectively.
Asian markets
Among other Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.16 per cent higher at $93.48 per barrel.