Sensex reclaims Mt 73k, Nifty scales new record high; Graphite India, Midhani jump up to 12%

Domestic equity markets resumed their upward move on Thursday after a day's hiatus. Headline indices saw some buying interest after US Fed's minutes of meeting gave not-so-hawkish comments by the central bank. Sensex was able to reclaim 73,000 mark, while NSE's Nifty50 topped 22,250 mark for the first time.

BSE Sensex gyrated in a wide range of 1,175 points during the session. The 30-share pack finally settled at Rs 73,158.25, jumping 535.15 points, or 0.74 per cent. NSE's Nifty50, which topped 22,250 mark during the session, closed 162.40 points, or 0.75 per cent, higher at 22,217.45. BSE midcap index advanced 0.9 per cent, while the BSE smallcap index was up half a per cent.

Markets oscillated sharply on both sides and finally ended the session with a gain of nearly a percent.  After the flat start, Nifty drifted lower in continuation to Wednesday’s decline. However, the tone changed completely in the latter half, with a sharp recovery in the heavyweights across sectors, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking.

"Nifty not only pared losses but also made a new record high. IT, auto and metal were among the top gainers on the sectoral front while banking ended almost unchanged," he added. "The move shows that bulls are in control thus participants should continue with a 'buy on dips' approach until Nifty decisively breaks the 21,800 level."

On a sectoral front, only Nifty private bank and financial services indices settled in red. Among the gainers, the Nifty IT index gained 2 per cent, while the Nifty index gained 1.65 per cent for the day. The Nifty metal, media and FCMG indices gained one per cent each.

In the Nifty50 pack, Coal India surged about 3.5 per cnet, while Bajaj Auto ended 3.4 per cent higher. Eicher Motors gained 3 per cent and ITC settled 2.9 per cent higher. HCL Technologies and Mahindra & Mahidnra were other key gainers. On the downside, IndusInd Bank dropped 1.67 per cent, while HDFC Bank, Bharat Petroleum and Kotak Mahindra Bank shed one per cent each.

The domestic market staged a recovery from the day’s low, buoyed by positive PMI data from the Eurozone and an impressive earnings report from US tech stocks, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"The broader market showed resilience as India’s economic activity continued to expand in February, with both service and manufacturing PMI improving. Consequently, it resulted in outperformance in discretionary stocks and capital goods," he said.

A total of 3,933 shares were traded on BSE on Thursday, of which 2,079 settled with gains. 1,739 stocks ended the session with cuts while 115 shares remained unchanged. During the day, 344 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 232 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, Graphite India surged more than 12 per cent, while Mishra Dhatu Nigam, Data Patterns (India) and ABB India rose 9 per cent each. Tata Investments and NCC surged 8 per cent each for the day. Among the laggards, Jindal Worldwide dropped more than 4.5 per cent, while Glaxosmithkline Pharma and Eureka Forbes shed 4 per cent each.

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