Stock market rally for 4th day: Sensex settles 509 pts higher, Nifty above 23,100; IT stocks shine

Domestic equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty extended their gaining streak to a fourth straight session on Tuesday after marking a sharp recovery on fag-end buying, supported by gains in IT and metal stocks, despite rising concerns over the US-Iran conflict.

At close, the Sensex advanced 509.73 points, or 0.69 per cent, to close at 74,616.58, rebounding 1,334 points from the intraday low of 73,282.41, while the Nifty rose 155.40 points, or 0.68 per cent, to settle at 23,123.65. 

Today's rally was fuelled by strong outperformance in the IT sector, which served as a defensive anchor, said Hariprasad K, SEBI-registered research analyst and founder, Livelong Wealth. 

“Stocks like Wipro led gains following a significant long-term deal announcement, reinforcing earnings visibility at a time when broader market uncertainty remains elevated,” Hariprasad said.

Top gainers & losers

Among Sensex constituents, HCL Technologies emerged as the top gainer, gaining 2.77% to Rs 1441.40. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) followed with a 2.68% rise, while Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever gained 2.60%, 2.13%, 1.67% and 1.30%, respectively. 

While Interglobe Aviation (IndiGo), Adani Ports and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) were among the losers on the 30-pack index, which declined by up to 0.87%.

Five stocks, namely Infosys, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, TCS and HCL Tech, contributed largely to the Sensex’s jump.  
Among sectoral indices, the BSE IT rose 2.37% to close at 30,158.03, while the BSE Metal index climbed 1.55% to end at 38,825.05.

“Going ahead, the immediate resistance for Nifty is placed in the 23230-23250 zone. Any sustainable move above this zone could result in Nifty extending its pullback towards 23400, followed by 23600 in the short term. On the downside, the zone of 23020–23000 zone is likely to act as an immediate support,” said Sudeep Shah, Head - Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities.