Sensex, Nifty snap four-day losing streak; auto, capital goods top gainers

Benchmark indices snapped four days of losing streak on Friday led by gains in auto, capital goods and consumer durables shares. Sensex gained 344 points to close at 53,760 and Nifty rose 110.55 points to 16,049.20. Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle and Bharti Airtel were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 2.87 per cent.

Tata Steel, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Dr Reddy's and Axis Bank were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 2.70 per cent.

Of 30 Sensex shares, 18 ended in the green.

Midcap and small cap indices rose 191 points and 134 points, respectively.

Auto, capital goods and consumer durables shares were the top sectoral gainers, with their BSE indices rising 649 points, 401 points and 588 points, respectively.

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"Volatility has re-emerged and investors have turned their focus on upcoming Fed policy in the backdrop of heightened US inflation. Fall in crude prices and reduction in FII selling added optimism to the domestic market while gloomy IT results, depreciating rupee and fear of global recession are restricting sizeable up move," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Market breadth was positive with 1,789 stocks ending higher against 1,497 stocks falling on BSE. 148 shares were unchanged.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 251.95 lakh crore on BSE today against Rs 251.06 lakh crore in the previous session.

Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities said, "Indices turned volatile in the noon session but good buying in front line counters helped the indices to get past 16,000 in the late afternoon session. Good buying was witnessed in auto, FMCG and consumer durables sectors while metal, IT and TECK sector witnessed selling pressure.  On the global front, Asian markets were trading with mixed cues and China's GDP growth data missed forecast.

On the technical front, the key resistance level for Nifty 50 is 16,150 and on the downside, 15,950 can act as strong support. The key support and resistance levels for Bank Nifty are 34,400 and 35,000 respectively."

Global markets

In Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo ended in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled significantly lower. Markets in Europe were trading in the green during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended on a mixed note on Thursday. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose by 0.60 per cent to $99.72 per barrel.