Stock Market: Sensex up 287 pts, Nifty above 26,000; Asian Paints, Trent lead gainers

Domestic equity benchmarks, the Sensex and Nifty, opened on a positive note on Wednesday, taking cues from firm trends in Asian markets, as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the day.

At 9:19 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 222.72 points, or 0.26 per cent, higher at 84,850.88, after gaining as much as 287 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty50 rose 62.25 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 25,998.45, after touching a day’s high of 26,022.85.

Among Sensex stocks, Asian Paints led gainers, gaining 0.75 per cent to Rs 2,527.80.  Trent shares rose 0.73 per cent. Other gainers included Sun Pharma (up 0.63 per cent), Reliance Industries (up 0.61 per cent) and HcL Tech (up 0.62 per cent).

Wall Street ended higher overnight, with all three major US indices closing in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.34 per cent to settle at 47,706.37, while the S&P 500 rose 0.23 per cent to 6,890.89. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.80 per cent to end at 23,827.49.

Asian markets traded mixed on Wednesday. At last check, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 2.05 per cent to 51,249.82, while South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.27 per cent to 4,061.41. In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.33 per cent to 26,346.14.

On Tuesday, the Sensex slipped 150.68 points, or 0.18 per cent, to close at 84,628.16, while the Nifty50 declined 29.85 points, or 0.11 per cent, to settle at 25,936.20.

Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst – Research at Choice Equity Broking Pvt Ltd, said the benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices are likely to open on a positive note on October 29, tracking GIFT Nifty trends that indicate gains of around 65 points for the broader index.

“After a positive opening, Nifty can find support at 25,900 followed by 25,850 and 25,800. On the higher side, 26,000 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 26,050 and 26,100. 
The charts of Bank Nifty indicate that it may get support at 58,100 followed by 58,000 and 57,900. If the index advances further, 58,300 would be the initial key resistance, followed by 58,400 and 58,500,” Matalia said.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said global equity markets remain bullish, supported by the sustained uptrend in the US, the “mother market” where AI-related deals and developments continue to drive gains in technology stocks.

“Today the market is likely to get another positive news from the Fed which is expected to cut rates by 25 bp. More important than the rate decision will be the Fed commentary on quantitative tightening,” Vijayakumar said.

“Nifty’s gain of 1300 points in the October series has strengthened the mildly bullish undertone of the market. This has the potential to continue in November helping the Nifty reach an all time high soon. The fairly-valued Nifty Bankex is well placed to lead the rally in the market. Strong and steady large cap bluechips like Bharti Airtel, RIL and L&T can lend support to the Nifty,” Vijayakumar added.