Sensex surges 318 points, Nifty settles near 18,400; Zensar Tech jumps 13%; Adani stocks fall up to 5%

Indian equity benchmarks on Monday extended their climb for the second straight session, led by gains in banks, financials, automobile, realty and consumer stocks. Investor sentiment got a boost due to strong fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings and eased consumer inflation data. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack jumped 318 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 62,346; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 84 points or 0.46 per cent up to settle at 18,399. Mid and smallcap shares finished on a positive note, with the Nifty Midcap 100 up 0.74 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.81 per cent. Fear index, India VIX, rose 2.48 per cent to 13.17.

"Domestic benchmark indices are marching ahead driven by favourable developments such as declining inflation levels, steady foreign inflows, and in anticipation of robust earnings growth on a QoQ (sequential) basis next quarter, due to drop in global commodity prices. The domestic CPI inflation came in better than expected at 4.70 per cent in April, and the WPI inflation decreased by 0.92 per cent, reaffirming RBI's decision to hold rate hikes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Globally, Asian stocks also traded on a positive note today.

Back home, buying interest in select index heavyweights such as Infosys, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Reliance Industries (RIL) also lifted the indices higher. Nine out of 10 listed Adani Group stocks settled in the red.

14 out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the green. Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Auto, Nifty Realty, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables outperformed the index by rising 0.64 per cent, 0.42 per cent, 0.70 per cent, 4.32 per cent, 1.14 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively. Although, Nifty Oil & Gas remained unchanged.

On the stock-specific front, Zensar Technologies and Sobha zoomed up to 12.94 per cent today. Elgi Equipments, Mahindra Lifespace Developers, Great Eastern Shipping, Ployplex Corporation, Cyient, EPL, Route and Prestige jumped up to 8.62 per cent.

Tata Motors settled 2.94 per cent higher, while DLF gained 7.43 per cent. Both companies reported a surge in March-quarter profit.

In contrast, Edelweiss Financial Services tanked 5.73 per cent today. Also, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, CEAT, Home First, DMart, Aegis Logistics, Tube Investments, Laxmi Organic and Motilal Oswal slipped up to 5 per cent.

NCC, Shree Renuka Sugars, Asahi India Glass, APL Apollo Tubes, Aavas Financiers and Bajaj Holdings fell up to 3.33 per cent.

Out of a total of 3,820 stocks that traded during the day on BSE, 1,939 settled with gains while 1,710 others ended lower. The rest 171 stocks stayed unchanged.

Nifty outlook

"The Nifty index encountered resistance at a historical congestion area on the daily charts, indicating a potential hurdle for further upward movement. However, it managed to close above the support level of 18,300, which is a positive sign. The heavy unwinding in the 18,300CE along with decent addition in the 18,300PE suggests that the support at 18,300 is robust. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is showing a bullish crossover, indicating increasing buying momentum. In the short term, the index is expected to move towards 18,500 and potentially higher. The support level to watch out for remains at 18,300," Rupak De, Senior Technical analyst at LKP Securities.

OI (open interest) data

On the call side, the highest OI was observed at 18,500 followed by 18,600 strike prices; while on the put side, the highest OI is at 18,300 strike price, said Deven Mehata, Equity Research Analyst, Choice Broking.

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