Sensex surges 234 points, Nifty settles above 18,300; Adani Enterprises zooms 20%; Gland Pharma crashes 17%

Indian equity benchmarks on Monday extended their climb for the second straight session, led by gains in technology, metals, healthcare, consumer durables and energy stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack 234 points or 0.38 per cent higher at 61,964; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 111 points or 0.61 per cent up to settle at 18,314. Mid and smallcap shares finished on a positive note, with the Nifty Midcap 100 up 0.63 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.55 per cent. Fear index, India VIX, rose 2.17 per cent to 12.57.

Buying interest in select index heavyweights such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ITC, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro also lifted the indices higher. In addition, all 10 listed Adani Group stocks settled in the red. Group's flagship firm Adani Enterprises jumped 18.84 per cent. Further, Elgi Equipments surged 18.20 per cent today.

On NSE, Adani Enterprises was the top Nifty gainer as the stock gained 19.55 per cent to settle at Rs 2,338.55. Adani Ports and Divi's Labs, Apollo Hospitals and Tech Mahindra jumped up to 6.41 per cent.

In contrast, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Nestle India, Eicher Motors and Bharti Airtel tanked up to 0.81 per cent today. Also, Gland Pharma and Cochin Shipyard plunged 16.56 per cent and 10.07 per cent, respectively.

Out of a total of 3,788 stocks that traded during the day on BSE, 1,770 settled with gains while 1,847 others ended lower. The rest 171 stocks stayed unchanged.

"The domestic market rose in anticipation of possible progress in US debt ceiling negotiations. Despite a weak fourth-quarter (Q4) performance, IT stocks rebounded on account of bargain opportunities and pent-up demand. Investors remain watchful ahead of the release of US FOMC minutes on Wednesday, as the minutes may give some indication of a pause on rate hikes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Globally, Asian stocks also traded higher today.

Back home, 10 out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the green. Nifty IT, Nifty Metal, Nifty Healthcare, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Oil & Gas outperformed the index by rising 2.49 per cent, 3.19 per cent, 1.57 per cent, 0.96 per cent and 0.78 per cent, respectively. Although, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services settled lower.

Nifty outlook

"On the technical levels, the 18,050-18,000 was firmly safeguarded, showcasing the importance of pivotal support and is expected to act as a sheet anchor in the comparable period. On the higher end, 18,400-18,450 is likely to act as the sturdy wall and a decisive breach would only trigger fresh longs in the system in the future," said Sameet Chavan, Head Research, Technical and Derivatives at Angel One.

OI (open interest) data

"Volume profile indicates that index has a strong support around 18,050-18,150 zone. Coming to the OI data, on the call side, the highest OI was observed at 18,400 followed by 18,500 strike prices; while on the put side, the highest OI was at 18,200 strike price. On the other hand, Nifty Bank has support at 43,500-43,650; while resistance is placed at 44,150, said Deven Mehata, Equity Research Analyst, Choice Broking.