Sensex rises 165 points; Nifty settles above 19,400; AR Wealth rises 8%, TCS gains 3%

Domestic equity markets continued to move higher on Thursday but headline peers took a sharp U-turn and gave up the majority of their gains. Positive global cues and IT counters supported the market sentiments, while traders booked profit at the higher levels.

For the day, the 30-share pack BSE Sensex gained 164.99 points, or 0.25 per cent, to end at 65,558.89, while NSE's Nifty50 gained 29.45 points, or 0.15 per cent, to close at 19,413.75. Broader markets underperformed the headline peers as BSE midcap and smallcap indices dropped about a per cent each. Fear gauge India VIX rose slightly to 10.94-levels.

BSE's barometer hit 66,000-levels for the first time but dropped more than 500 points from the day's high, while NSE's Nifty50 also topped 19,550-mark but lost more than 150 points from day's high. Weekly expiry of F&O contracts weighed on sentiments, while profit booking was prevalent in the broader markets.

Tracking its Asian peers, domestic markets commenced on a positive note today, led by positive US inflation readings which outweighed concerns over rising domestic inflation due to an increase in food prices. With markets at higher levels and commencement of earnings season, stock specific action cannot be ruled out, said Riches Vanara, Technical And Derivatives Analyst at Stoxbox.

"On the technical front, the Nifty50 gapped up 110 points and edged higher to mark new life-highs at 19,567. However, it trapped the buyers as the market succumbed to selling pressure from the day’s high during the mid-trading session. The intraday rally marked a low at 19,385, but mildly recovered 57 points and closed above the psychological mark of 19,400," he added.

On a sectoral front, the Nifty PSU Bank and media indices dropped 2 per cent each, while the Nifty consumer durable and oil & gas indices dropped about a per cent each. Among the gainers, the NIfty IT index gained about 2 per cent, while the Nifty realty index rose about a per cent.

In the Nifty50 pack, Power Grid topped among the losers and dropped more than 3 per cent, while Coal India, UPL and Maruti Suzuki shed about 2 per cent each. Maruti Suzuki India, Bharat Petroleum, NTPC, Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Adani Enterprises and Grasim settled a per cent lower each.

Among the gainers, Tata Consultancy Services and Hindalco Industries jumped about 3 per cent each, while Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finserv gained 2 per cent each. HDFC Life Insurance, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Life Insurance, LTIMindTree added a per cent each for the day.

Today’s domestic rally was supported by the contra bet buying of the IT stocks which was supported by stable margins, new generation business opportunities and increase in pricing power due to moderation in USD, as latest US inflation is fast approaching the Fed’s target levels, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"The broad market was trading positively at the all-time high level in anticipation of buoyant Q1 results and low volatility (VIX). However, a mixed start to bank earnings, coupled with ongoing concerns about domestic inflation, attracted bearish sentiment towards the latter half," he said.

A total of 3,589 shares were traded on BSE on Thursday, of which 2,104 settled with cuts. 1,349 stocks ended the session with gains while 136 shares remained unchanged. A total of 134 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 124 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, Somany Ceramics and Indian Hume Pipes dropped about 8 per cent each. DB Realty and Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers plunged 7 per cent each. Pokarna, Sunflag Iron and Steel and Federal Bank shed 6 per cent each. Spandana Sphoorty Financial, PCBL and Delta Corp declined 5 per cent each.

Among the gainers, Tejas Networks gained more than 11 per cent, while Phoenix Mills and Anand Rathi Wealth advanced 8 per cent each. Zomato rose more than 6 per cent, while Finolex Cables, KIOCL and Tanla Platforms gained 5 per cent each.

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