Sensex rises over 100 points, Nifty trades near 18,650; Hikal & Aurobindo Pharma jump up to 11%

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in early deals on Tuesday, led by strong buying interest in consumer and technology stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 130 points or 0.21 per cent to trade at 62,976, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 37 points or 0.20 per cent higher to trade at 18,635. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.40 per cent and the small-cap 100 was up 0.09 per cent.

Asian equities were mostly higher as investors cheered the prospect that the world's largest economy would avert a major debt default. US markets were closed on Monday. US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy forged an agreement to suspend the country's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until 2025, ahead of the June 1 deadline. The deal would have to pass through the US Congress.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 1,758 crore worth of Indian equities on Monday. FIIs have been net buyers in Indian stocks in 22 of the last 23 sessions.

"The rise in market has been driven by liquidity, mainly from FPIs. India has again become a preferred choice of FPIs. So, as long as this foreign portfolio liquidity remains strong the market will remain resilient," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Long-term investors should remain invested in high-quality financials, automobiles and construction-related segments since the prospects of these segments remain good even after the run-up in stock prices, he added.

14 out of 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty FMCG, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty IT were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.39 per cent, 0.46 per cent and 0.28 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, UltraTech Cement was the top Nifty gainer as the stock jumped 1.32 per cent to trade at Rs 7,943.90. Also, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and HCL Technologies climbed up to 1.10 per cent.

In contrast, SBI Life, Hindalco, Divi's Labs, HDFC Life and Nestle India slipped up to 1.13 per cent.

The overall market breadth was strong as 1,710 shares were advancing while 1,053 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, L&T, Bajaj Finance, Titan, Airtel and Infosys were among the top gainers.

In addition, Hikal, Aurobindo Pharma and Brightcom Group jumped up to 10.70 per cent.

On the flip side, Jubilant Pharmova, Campus Activewear, RVNL, IRCON, Medplus and Edelweiss Financial Services slipped up to 6.55 per cent. Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas fell up to 2.32 per cent.

Sensex had jumped 345 points, or 0.55 per cent, to settle at 62,846 yesterday, while Nifty had gained 114 points, or 0.62 per cent, to end the day at 18,613.

Nifty and Nifty Bank outlooks

"We anticipate Nifty to attain the next targets of 18,800-18,900 with most of the frontline stocks like RIL, ITC, HDFC Bank, M&M and SBI looking good for further gains in the coming days. The support for the day is seen at 18,450 levels while the resistance is seen at 18,750 levels," said Vaishali Parekh, Vice-President - Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher.

"Nifty Bank made an all-time new high with a gap-up opening above the previous peak of 44,150 levels and has entered new territory with strong bias indicated and is anticipated to carry on the positive move for next targets of 45,900-46,000 levels. The sub-index would have the daily range of 44,000-44,800 levels," Parekh stated.

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