Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty extended their rally for the third straight session on Wednesday amid buying in index majors IndusInd Bank, Nestle India and HCL Tech. Traders, however, said persistent foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in global equities limited the gains in the market. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 169.87 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close at 60,300.58. During the day, it gained 232.08 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 60,362.79. The broader NSE Nifty settled 44.35 points, or 0.25 per cent, higher at 17,813.60.
“Domestic markets mirrored the mood on Wall Street as soft economic data and heavy earnings closed US equities lower yesterday. However, markets recovered slowly after a rally in US futures, earnings from tech companies provided support.” Adding to investor concerns about a possible recession, US consumer confidence data for April edged to a nine-month low ahead of the upcoming Fed policy meeting,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
Most gainers among Sensex components
PowerGrid was the biggest gainer among Sensex components, rallying 2.59 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Nestle, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC Bank among major gainers. On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Reliance Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest laggards, falling up to 0.84 per cent.
Investors would have covered their positions before the end of monthly F&O on Thursday. Reserve policy next month, markets may take cues from global direction to exercise caution, said Srikant Chauhan, head of equity research (retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap gauge climbed 0.97 per cent and the Smallcap index advanced 1.29 per cent. Realty and FMCG sectors were the top gainers today. Nifty FMCG index rose to all-time high on the back of good results from Tata Consumer and Nestle, indicating revival in demand and easing of cost inflation pressure, said Siddharth Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. .
Sectoral indices gained 1.30 per cent in realty, 1 per cent in capital goods, telecommunication (0.88 per cent), industrial (0.71 per cent) and FMCG (0.61 per cent). Metals, healthcare and energy ended in the red. “Nifty ended positive for the third consecutive session. Most global equities fell on Wednesday after tepid US data and renewed banking sector concerns fueled recession fears and dampened risk appetite” ,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.
Asian market
In Asian markets, Hong Kong ended in the green, while Tokyo and Shanghai closed with losses. Europe’s stock markets were trading in negative territory. US markets closed sharply on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.17 per cent to $80.91 per barrel. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 407.35 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
“Short term trend of the market remains positive. Nifty is now approaching the important resistance level of 17,863 in the near term. There is a possibility of minor consolidation movement at higher levels before showing a decisive upside breakout for the near term. Immediate support is at 17,700. level,” said Nagaraj Shetty, technical research analyst at HDFC Securities.
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