Buying in banking stocks buoys bourses
Sensex, Nifty extend gains for 5th session; A sharp surge in select heavyweights during late session lifted key indices upwards
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Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex climbed over 385 points to reclaim the 66,000 mark on Thursday, propelled by robust buying in index majors HDFC Bank, L&T and SBI amid a weak trend in global equities. A decline in crude oil prices in the international market also supported the domestic equities, traders said.
Rising for the fifth straight day, the BSE Sensex recovered all the early lost ground and finally closed with a gain of 385.04 points or 0.58 per cent at 66,265.56. During the day, it hit a low of 65,672.34 and a high of 66,296.90. The Nifty advanced 116 points or 0.59 per cent to settle at 19,727.05.
“Markets extended recovery on the weekly expiry day and gained over half a per cent. The tone was range-bound in the first half, however, a sharp surge in the select heavyweights turned the bias in favour of bulls as the day progressed,” said Ajit Mishra, SV-P (technical research), Religare Broking Ltd.
“ETF flows during the late afternoon also helped large-caps recover lost ground,” said S Ranganathan, head (research) at LKP Securities.
“The domestic market initially opened with a lackluster performance, influenced by weak global cues. However, as the day progressed, a decline in US bond yields and crude oil prices injected some positivity into the market. This optimism was most prominent in banking stocks. Interestingly, mid-and small-cap stocks managed to retain investor interest even though their valuations are relatively high. Nonetheless, the persistently weak trade data from China continues to cast a shadow over the global market’s outlook,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs3,245.86 crore, according to exchange data.
Benchmark Indices staged a smart afternoon rally with the help of PSU and Infrastructure stocks. With a 13.5 per cent share of the market capitalisation, PSU companies have seen a robust jump from just over 9 per cent in 2021 even as several mid-cap state-owned entities have seen a multi-fold rise in their stock values during this period.
