Nifty hits new highs, Sensex gains 340 points; M&M, Apollo Hospitals surge up to 5%

Bulls were back in action on Dalal Street after a day's hiatus as benchmark indices settled with big gains on Thursday during the weekly expiry of derivative contracts. Headline peers kept the global weakness aside and continued to scale new highs as Nifty 50 index topped 19,500 during the day, thanks to buying in select heavyweight stocks. For the day, the BSE's barometer Sensex gained 339.60 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 65,785.64, while NSE's Nifty50 added 98.80 points, or 0.51 per cent, to settle at 19,497.30. Broader markets surged in tandem with headline peers as BSE midcap and smallcap indices added about a per cent each. Fear gauge India VIX declined about a per cent to 11.84-level. Markets edged higher after two days of pause and gained nearly half a percent. After the flat start, buying in select heavyweights tried to push the Nifty higher but profit taking at the higher levels capped the momentum. It finally managed to end closer to the day’s high at 19497.30 levels, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking. "The broad-based participation combined with favorable global cues would help in keeping the tone positive. We thus reiterate our view to focus more on stock selection and keep trailing stop losses on rise for existing longs. On the index front, Nifty has immediate support at 19,300 now and major at 18,900 levels," he said. In the broader markets, the Nifty realty index gained more than 2 per cent, while the Nifty oil & gas and media indices also added about 2 per cent each. Nifty auto, pharma and PSU bank indices added about a per cent each. On the contrary, Nifty IT and FMCG indices were the only laggards for the day. In the Nifty50 pack, Mahindra & Mahindra surged more than 5 per cent to top among the gainers. Apollo Hospital Enterprises and Power gained 4 per cent each, followed by Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, ONGC, Axis Bank and NPTC, which added 2 per cent each for the day. Among the losers, Eicher Motors continued to bleed and dropped about 3 per cent, while HDFC Insurance Company declined 2 per cent. Maruti Suzuki and HCL Technologies shed more than a per cent. Bajaj Finance, Divis Laboratories, IndusInd Bank and Grasim were the other laggards on the index. Foreign investors continue to provide unwavering support to the domestic market, helping to sustain the ongoing rally despite weak global cues. India’s underperformance during the year is expected to reverse moving ahead, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. "The mid- and small-cap segments have outperformed the benchmark index, with realty, oil & gas, power and consumption stocks leading the sectorial rally as provisional & economic data suggests a good Q1FY24 results. However, global markets are displaying a negative trend, influenced by hawkish FOMC minutes and US-China tensions," he said. A total of 3,596 shares were traded on BSE on Thursday, of which 2,049 settled with gains. 1,401 stocks ended the session with gains while 146 shares remained unchanged. A total of 12 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas only three shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day. Shares of Lagnam Spintex rose as the company started the trial production of newly installed machines at its manufacturing facility in Bhilwara which is in expansion mode. The company is investing Rs 218 crore towards the expansion project of 41,472 spindles of 100 per cent cotton from the imported textile machines manufacturers from Germany, Switzerland and Spain. 

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