Sensex rises over 200 points, Nifty trades above 17,650; Indigo Paints, Mastek jump up to 9%

Indian equity benchmarks climbed in early trade on Thursday, halting their three-day losing run. The domestic indices traded higher today led by gains in technology, consumer durables and metal stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 210 points or 0.35 per cent to trade at 59,778, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 52 points or 0.29 per cent up to trade at 17,671. Mid- and small-cap shares were up as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.16 per cent and small-cap gained 0.27 per cent.

In the absence of strong positive or negative triggers, the current consolidation phase will continue, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign institutional investors continued to sell for the third consecutive session. FIIs sold Rs 13.17 crore worth of equities on Wednesday.

Nine out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Metal were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.62 per cent, 0.53 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Titan was the top Nifty gainer as the stock jumped 1.50 per cent to trade at Rs 2,608.85. Adani Ports, L&T, Asian Paints and PowerGrid rose up to 1.28 per cent.

In contrast, Divi's Lab, Eicher Motors, Apollo Hospitals, SBI Life and Grasim fell up to 1.92 per cent.

The overall market breadth was strong as 1,843 shares were advancing while 839 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank), L&T, ITC, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Titan, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, Infosys and PowerGrid were among the top gainers.

In addition, Indigo Paints and Mastek jumped up to 9.21 per cent.

On the flip side, Reliance Industries, Nestle India, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cements were trading in the red.

Sensex had dropped 159 points, or 0.27 per cent, to settle at 59,568 on Wednesday, while Nifty had declined 41 points, or 0.23 per cent, to close at 17,619.

Nifty outlook

"A narrowing range pattern appears to be in formation with 17,574 guarding downsides on all days. This sets up an environment for a strong push higher with the 17,976 objective back in play. Alternatively, slippage below 17,574 or inability to clear 17,700/17,740 on the rise, will deflate upside hopes, but may not lead to a vertical fall as such, with 17,500 initially as well as 17,370/17,270 ready to step in. Either way, expect expansion in trading ranges," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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