Sensex rises over 300 points, Nifty trades above 18,600; Rossari Biotech & Tata Chemicals jump up to 7%

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in early deals on Monday, taking cues from the global markets. The domestic indices rose today led by strong buying interest in banks, financials and automobile stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 317 points or 0.51 per cent to trade at 62,864, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 83 points or 0.45 per cent higher to trade at 18,617. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.32 per cent and the small-cap 100 was up 0.44 per cent.

Asian shares extended a global rally on optimism that the US Federal Reserve would pause rate hikes this month. Wall Street closed on a positive note on Friday. Stronger-than-expected domestic economic growth data and fast-paced expansion of the factory output also bolstered investor sentiment today.

14 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Auto were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.62 per cent, 0.62 per cent and 0.86 per cent, respectively. Nifty Realty was the only sub-index that was down.

Foreign institutional investors sold Rs 659 crore worth of Indian equities on Friday, while domestic investors bought Rs 582 crore of shares on a net basis.

"Macro news flows are positive for a breakout of the upper range. But more activity is likely to be in the broader market where many mid and smallcap stocks are breaking out. There is valuation comfort in the mid and smallcap universe," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

On the stock-specific front, Axis Bank was the top Nifty gainer as the stock jumped 2.34 per cent to trade at Rs 947.75. Also, M&M, Adani Enterprises, Sun Pharma and Grasim climbed up to 1.74 per cent.

In contrast, Divi's Labs, BPCL, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) slipped up to 1.17 per cent.

The overall market breadth was strong as 2,230 shares were advancing while 864 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC duo (HDFC and HDFC Bank), Reliance Industries, M&M, L&T, Sun Pharma, Maruti and Infosys were among the top gainers.

In addition, Rossari Biotech, Tata Chemicals and Shree Renuka Sugars jumped up to 6.60 per cent.

On the flip side, Kalpataru Power Transmission, Macrotech developers and Cyient slipped up to 4.81 per cent.

Sensex had climbed 119 points or 0.19 per cent to close at 62,547 on Friday, while Nifty had moved 46 points or 0.25 per cent higher to settle at 18,534.

Nifty outlook

 

"The turn lower from 18,660 has now stretched into the 18,530-18,430-support region, allowing some deal of fightback from the bulls. While the turn of events is within expected lines, the longer we stay under 18,530, the higher the threat of a breach of 18,430, despite it being quite a strong support. Expect sideways trades today, with sellers waiting to dominate on the rise. Bulls will need an hour’s close or so above 18,585 to tilt the bias in their favour," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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