Sensex Today: Benchmark indices ended higher with Nifty closing around 18,000 amid buying seen across the sectors, barring pharma. The S&P BSE Sensex dipped to a low of 59,754 in opening deals, but soon rebounded and marched higher for most of the trading session. The BSE benchmark hit a high of 60,834 – up 1,080 points from the day’s low. Despite trimming some gains towards the fag end of the day, the Sensex finished 721 points higher at 60,566. In the process, the Sensex snapped its four-day losing streak, wherein the BSE bechmark had shed 1,961 points.
The NSE Nifty 50 rallied 310 points in intra-day trades, and eventually settled with a gain of 208 points, thus reclaiming the 18,000-mark.
SBI and IndusInd Bank were the top gainers among the Sensex 30, up 4 per cent each. Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, ITC, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Ultra Tech Cement, NTPC and Tata Motors were the other major gainers, up 2 – 3 per cent each. On the flip side, Nestle India slipped over a per cent.
The broader markets outperformed in trades today – the BSE Midcap surged 2.3 per cent, while the Smallcap index vaulted 3.1 per cent. The overall breadth too was extremely positive, with 2,877 shares advancing versus 760 declining stocks on the BSE.
Sectorally, the Bank Nifty was up 2 per cent. The BSE Power index soared over 3 per cent. The Metal, Realty and Commodities indices also finished more than 2 per cent higher each.
Among individual shares, NDTV rallied 5 per cent in intra-day trades after founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy said that they would sell 27.26 per cent out of their 32.26 per cent shareholding in the news broadcaster to the Adani Group.
Parth Nyati, Founder at Tradingo, said: “market rallied today after last week’s underperformance Indian markets witnessed a sharp short-covering rally in the absence of any global cues. Last week, we underperformed due to COVID-related news, while other global markets didn’t react too much to the same. Our market had become oversold as the Nifty daily RSI was near 30 and the put/call ratio was 0.72; therefore, we are seeing a short-covering bounce. The purchase of 3400 cr by DIIs without any block deal was another encouraging sign for bulls. The majority of the froth was removed from the system in Friday’s trading as many stocks fell precipitously, resulting in bargain buying at lower levels.”
“Technically, the Nifty has reclaimed its 100-day moving average (DMA), but 18088, 18133, and 18200 are multiple hurdles on an immediate basis. Nifty has to cross its 50-DMA of 18200 to gain any meaningful strength, while 17850 will act as an immediate hurdle. As per option data, there is a tussle between bulls and bears around the 18000 mark; therefore, it will be important to see tomorrow’s price action, and if Nifty manages to trade above 18000, then there is a good chance of a move towards the 18200 level,” he added.
Global Cues
Globally, the US equity markets edged higher on Friday as investors assessed cooling inflation and consumer spending data. Dow Jones, NASDAQ Composite, and the S&P 500 rose up to 0.5 per cent.
Asia-Pacific markets, meanwhile, inched lower this morning after core inflation in Japan rose 3.7 per cent in November, highest in over 40 years. Key indices like Nikkei 225, Topix, Kospi, the S&P 200, Hang Seng, and Shanghai Composite fell up to 1 per cent.
In the commodities markets, prices of Brent Crude and WTI Crude climbed up to 3 per cent each to $83 per barrel and $79 per barrel, respectively.
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