Sensex rises 123 points, Nifty settles above 18,300; Design Arena & Zensar Tech zoom up to 14%; Adani Total falls 5%

Indian equity benchmarks on Friday managed to settle higher in a highly volatile trading session as gains in banks, financials and automobile stocks countered losses in metal, energy and pharma shares. The domestic indices returned to the positive zone ahead of retail inflation data for April, scheduled to be released at 5:30 pm today. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 123 points or 0.20 per cent to close at 62,028; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 18 points or 0.10 per cent up to settle at 18,315. Mid and smallcap shares finished on a weak note, with the Nifty Midcap 100 down 0.41 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 falling 0.75 per cent. Fear index, India VIX, fell 2.74 per cent to 12.85.

"The domestic market recovered in the second half as investors back home awaited the release of consumer inflation data that is expected to cool down below 5 per cent," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

On the global front, most of the Asian stocks were down. "A slew of weak economic data points from the US and China hinting towards a slower pace of economic growth disturbed the mood of the Asian market," Nair mentioned.

Back home, buying interest in select index heavyweights such as HDFC twins (HDFC Bank and HDFC), Reliance Industries (RIL) and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) also lifted the indices higher.

Eight out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the green. Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Auto outperformed the index by rising 0.73 per cent, 0.54 per cent and 0.77 per cent, respectively. Although, Nifty Metal, Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Pharma fell up to 1.84 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, Intellect Design Arena zoomed 14.02 per cent to close at Rs 531.15 on BSE today. Zensar Technologies, Dr Lal PathLabs, Eicher Motors, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Cera Sanitaryware jumped up to 9.60 per cent.

In contrast, Jindal Stainless, Greaves Cotton and Balrampur Chini Mills tanked up to 6.32 per cent today. Also, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), Manappuram Finance, Adani Total Gas, Hindalco, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, IRCON International, HUDCO and Adani Transmission slipped up to 4.97 per cent.

Elgi Equipments, Lauras Labs, ZEEL, KSB, Quess Corp, General Insurance Corporation, Power Grid and Teamlease Services fell up to 3.45 per cent.

Out of a total of 3,638 stocks that traded during the day on BSE, 1,653 settled with gains while 1,865 others ended lower. The rest 120 stocks stayed unchanged.

Nifty outlook

"As far as levels are concerned, 18,200 is likely to cushion any short-term blip, while the sacrosanct support lies around the 18,100-18,000 zone in the comparable period. On the flip side, 18,500 is very much in the vicinity and with ongoing momentum, it is strongly anticipated to get tested soon. At the same time, an authoritative breach beyond the same could trigger the next leg of rally," said Osho Krishan, Senior Analyst, Technical & Derivative Research at Angel One Ltd.

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