Indian benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended higher on Thursday powered by a rally in the last hour of trade. Sensex rose 223 points to end at 61,133 and Nifty gained 68 points to close at 18,191. The indices had traded in the red since early trade.
Top Gainers
Bharti Airtel (1.39%), SBI (1.85%), Tata Steel (1.08%), IndusInd Bank (1.38%), Axis Bank (1.09%), and Sun Pharma (0.90%) were the top Sensex gainers.
Top losers
Tata Motors (1.41%), Titan (1.10%), Ultratech Cement (0.76%) and HUL (0.65%) were the top Sensex losers.
Of 30 Sensex stocks, 19 ended in the green. Market breadth was positive with 1872 shares closing higher against 1607 stocks falling on BSE. 149 shares were unchanged.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial said,”The domestic market trend was influenced by the movements of its global counterparts, as a negative US closing pushed Indian bourses to a poor start. However, positive signals from US futures lifted the benchmark index above the flatline. Markets will continue to witness such sudden movements, underpinned by lingering recession and COVID fears, which will be countered by bargain hunters.”
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Banking, metal, oil and gas shares were the top sectoral gainers with their BSE indices rising 450 points, 234 pts and 272 points, respectively. Market cap of BSE-listed firms settled at Rs 281.12 lakh crore. BSE mid cap and small cap indices fell 22 points and rose 62 points, respectively.
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, “Nifty remained rangebound during the first half of the trading session, only to clear the resistance in the later half of the day. The index could reclaim the 50 EMA on the daily timeframe, suggesting a rise in optimism among investors. The momentum indicator RSI (14) is in bullish crossover. Over the near term, the index is likely to remain positive as long as it remains above 17,950. Therefore, buying on dips would be a good strategy until 17,950 is held. On the higher end, resistance is placed at 18,350.”
Previous session
Indian benchmarks Sensex and Nifty closed on a flat note on Wednesday, in line with weak global cues. Sensex fell 17 points to end at 60,910 and Nifty lost 10 points to close at 18,122.