Sensex up 740 points at closing, Nifty above 17,400

Benchmark indices extended gains for the third consecutive session, closing higher on Wednesday.

Market opened on a positive note, tracking strong global cues. A fall in crude oil prices and another round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine aided investor sentiment, as per analysts. Indices extended gains through the day amid broad-based buying.

The BSE Sensex closed at 58,683.99, up 740.34 points or 1.28 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 58,727.78 and a low of 58,176.00. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,498.25, up 172.95 points or 1 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 17,522.50 and a low of 17,387.20.

Breadth turns positive

The market breadth turned positive with 2,121 stocks advancing on the BSE as against 1,281 that declined, while 105 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 22 stocks hit the upper circuit as compared to the two stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 136 stocks touched a 52-week high and 62 touched a 52-week low.

Mitul Shah, Head of Research at Reliance Securities, said, “Domestic equities closed higher following positive global cues, as progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks improved the market sentiment. However, inflationary pressures in the US economy continue to pose a threat, with the Fed [Federal Reserve] gearing up for a more aggressive monetary policy tightening.”

HDFC Life, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consumer, Bajaj Finance and Powergrid were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while ONGC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, ITC and Tata Steel were the top losers.

According to Neeraj Chadawar, Head-Quantitative Equity Research, Axis Securities, “Investors’ sentiments further improved with an ease in crude prices that led to more buying interest, especially towards riskier assets like equity.”

“In the near term, market performance is likely to be range-bound, as the clear trend is likely to emerge only after the volatility sustains at current levels for a longer time. Q4FY22 earnings commentaries remain critical at this juncture. Further, the number of downgrades/upgrades will have to be monitored for the quarter (due to the higher input cost pressure,) and that will drive market fundamentals,” Chadawar added.

According to him, the long-term view on the market is positively supported by the emerging favourable structure as “increasing capex spending enables banks to improve credit growth.”

Metals lose shine

On the sectoral front, all indices except Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Healthcare Index and Nifty Oil & Gas closed in the green. Financials, auto, realty,  IT and FMCG recorded higher gains.

Nifty Metal was down over 2 per cent at closing while Nifty Oil & Gas was down 0.37 per cent. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index closed 0.19 per cent and 0.15 per cent lower, respectively.

Meanwhile,  Nifty Financial Services was up nearly 2 per cent at closing while Nifty Realty was up 1.5  per cent. Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Auto each were up over 1 per cent. Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG closed 0.88 per cent and 0.61 per cent higher, respectively. 

Broader indices

Broader indices were also in the green.

Nifty Midcap 50 was up 1.08 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 0.61 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.78 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 1.09 per cent.

The volatility index softened 3.25 per cent to 20.61.

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