Dalal St takes a breather on easing inflation

The domestic market has sustained its recovery path from recent lows, aided by a moderation in India’s CPI and favourable signals from its Asian peers. Volatility and range-bound trading are likely to persist in the near term, given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the low turnout, said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex climbed 328 points, while Nifty closed above the 22,200 level on Tuesday as stock markets continued the winning march for the third straight day on the back of gains in index major Reliance Industries and positive inflation data. Rising for the third day, BSE Sensex rose by 328.48 points, or 0.45 per cent, to settle at 73,104.61. The 30-share index rallied 510.13 points, or 0.70 per cent, to touch a high of 73,286.26 in day trade. As many as 20 Sensex stocks ended with gains, while 10 declined. The broader Nifty of NSE rose by 113.80 points, or 0.51 per cent, to settle at 22,217.85 with 36 of its constituents ending in the green and 14 in the red.

“The domestic market has sustained its recovery path from recent lows, aided by a moderation in India’s CPI and favourable signals from its Asian peers. Volatility and range-bound trading are likely to persist in the near term, given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the low turnout,” said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services.

“Nifty continued to gain for the third consecutive session on Tuesday after rising through the day with minimal corrections. Global equities were mixed in muted trading on Tuesday as investors waited for producer prices data for cues on inflation in the world’s largest economy and ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speech later in the day,” said Deepak Jasani, head (retail research), HDFC Securities.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 1.79 per cent and midcap index advanced 1.14 per cent. Among the indices, utilities soared 2.80 per cent, power (2.51 per cent), industrials (2.40 per cent), telecommunication (2.27 per cent), capital goods (2.11 per cent), commodities (1.87 per cent), services (1.78 per cent), energy (1.52 per cent) and realty (1.03 per cent).

Gains were led by metal and auto shares, while FMCG and pharma shares declined due to profit taking, analysts said. From the Sensex basket, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, UltraTech Cement, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, and Maruti were the major gainers.