Sensex rises over 200 points, Nifty trades above 18,350; Medplus Health Services jumps 11%; Page Industries dives 12%

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in early deals on Friday, taking cues from the global markets. The domestic indices rose today led by strong buying interest in consumer goods, technology, metal, state-owned lenders and energy stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 227 points or 0.37 per cent to trade at 62,099, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 59 points or 0.32 per cent higher to trade at 18,380. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.35 per cent and the small-cap 100 was up 0.30 per cent.

Progress on US debt ceiling talks lifted sentiment and powered an overnight rise in Wall Street equities. Also, strong earnings from chip giant Nvidia supported the rally in technology stocks. Asian stocks edged higher today.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 589.10 crore worth of Indian equities on Thursday, while domestic investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 338.44 crore of equities. FIIs have been net buyers in Indian stocks in 20 of the last 21 sessions.

"FII inflows continue and impart resilience to the market. Both FIIs and DIIs are buyers now, and this is strong support to the market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

11 out of 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Oil & Gas were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.60 per cent, 0.75 per cent, 0.40 per cent, 0.84 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Reliance Industries was the top Nifty gainer as the stock jumped 1.64 per cent to trade at Rs 2,479.90. Also, Maruti, UPL, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finserv climbed up to 1.24 per cent.

In contrast, ONGC, Grasim, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma and Eicher Motors slipped up to 1.81 per cent.

The overall market breadth was strong as 1,799 shares were advancing while 996 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Reliance, Infosys, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti, ITC, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Bajaj Finance were among the top gainers.

In addition, Medplus Health Services, Praj Industries, Esab India and Price Pipes jumped up to 11.28 per cent.

On the flip side, Page Industries, Star Health, Aster DM Healthcare, Mishra Dhatu Nigam, Prestige Estates and NCC slipped up to 12.38 per cent. Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas fell up to 3.05 per cent.

Sensex had gained 99 points, or 0.16 per cent, to settle at 61,873 yesterday, while Nifty had moved 36 points, or 0.20 per cent, higher to end the session at 18,321.

Nifty and Nifty Bank outlooks

 

"Yesterday's positive close has further enhanced the probability of a crucial breakthrough above the barrier of 18,400 zone which can confirm for a directional move ahead for the next targets of 18,800-18,900 levels. The support for the day is seen at 18,200 levels while the resistance is seen at 18,450 levels," said Vaishali Parekh, Vice-President - Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher.

 

"For Nifty Bank, the sub-index would have a daily range of 43,400-44,100 levels," Parekh stated.

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