Sensex, Nifty close higher for fourth straight session; banking, IT shares gain

Benchmark indices ended higher for the fourth straight session today led by a surge in IT and banking stocks. Sensex rose 630 points to 55,397 and Nifty gained 180 points to 16,520. Buying in index majors Reliance Industries and Infosys also supported sentiment.

Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance emerged as the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 3.84 per cent. M&M, Sun Pharma and Kotak Bank were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 1.81 per cent.

Mid cap and small cap indices rose 59 points and 110 points, respectively. Banking, IT and metal shares were the top sectoral gainers, with their BSE indices rising 275 points, 721 points, and 223 points, respectively.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities said, "The market is mirroring the mood in global equities and notched up significant gains on strong buying in IT and select media and realty stocks. Basically, the market is hoping that the US Fed may not be aggressive in hiking rates in its next meeting, while falling commodity & crude oil prices too have moderated the bearish trend in recent sessions. On the technical front, the Nifty has formed a small bearish candle near the important resistance level. Due to markets being in an temporary overbought situation, we could see some profit booking at higher levels. For bulls, 16550 and 16600 would act as an immediate resistance zone. On the flip side, 16,450-16,400 could be key support levels."

Share Market update: Sensex rises 630 pts, Nifty above 16,500; HCL Tech, TechM top gainers

Market breadth was positive with 1,930 stocks ending higher against 1,424 stocks falling on BSE. 135 shares were unchanged. The market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 258.13 lakh crore on BSE today against Rs 256.54 lakh crore in the previous session.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers on Tuesday, picking up shares worth Rs 976.4 crore, as per exchange data.

Meanwhile, rupee fell 8 paise to close at an all-time low of 80 today against the US dollar.

The US markets had also ended sharply higher on Tuesday.

"The sharp 8 per cent pullback in Nifty from June lows of 15,183 is all set to continue aided by a flood of good news. First, the US markets have rebounded sharply driven by impressive corporate earnings. Second, FPI selling appears to have bottomed out. FPIs have bought 5 days this month. Third, the relief announced by the government for the petroleum sector through reduction in windfall tax and cuts in duties on exports will be a major boost for the sector, particularly for RIL," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

On Tuesday, benchmark indices ended in the green for the third consecutive session after falling in initial trade on Tuesday amid a mixed trend in global markets. Sensex gained 246.47 points to end at 54,767.62 and Nifty climbed 62.05 points to close at 16,340. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.39 per cent to $106.93 per barrel.