Mkts rebound on positive macro data

Mumbai: Stocks staged a strong recovery on Thursday, with Nifty notching up a fresh all-time high and Sensex surging over 500 points as investors went on a buying spree in IT, technology and automobile stocks. After volatility persisted for most part of the session, the benchmark indices rebounded in the last one hour of trading amid improving domestic macroeconomic indicators and positive global cues, including impressive earnings from the US technology space.

The 30-share benchmark Sensex soared 535.15 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 73,158.24 points. As many as 22 Sensex constituents closed in the positive territory and the index touched an intra-day high of 73,256.39 points. The broader Nifty climbed 162.40 points or 0.74 per cent to hit its highest-ever closing level of 22,217.45 points. During intraday trade, the index touched the peak of 22,252.50 points and 25 Nifty constituents ended the session with gains. Nifty recorded its previous lifetime peak at 22,196.95 points on February 20.

“The domestic market staged a recovery from the day’s low, buoyed by positive PMI data from the Eurozone and an impressive earnings report from US tech stocks. The broader market showed resilience as India’s economic activity continued to expand in February, with both service and manufacturing PMI improving. Consequently, it resulted in outperformance in discretionary stocks and capital goods,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

“Nifty made a fresh record high on February 22 negating the bearish development of the previous session. It could now proceed towards 22,280 and later 22,810. On falls, it could take support at 22,011. Participants remain unsure about the direction of the market due to sharp intraday movements in the markets on either side,” added Deepak Jasani, head (retail research) at HDFC Securities.

BSE midcap index gained 0.92 per cent, largecap index climbed 0.81 per cent and smallcap index rose 0.54 per cent. In the Sensex pack, HCLTech rose the maximum by 3.12 per cent, followed by ITC which gained 2.73 per cent and M&M went up 2.61 per cent. TCS climbed 2.44 per cent. Bellwether auto stock Maruti gained 1.79 per cent, while Tata Motors rose 1.20 per cent.

Tech Mahindra, Wipro, L&T and Maruti were among the other major gainers.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Auto gained the maximum by 1.85 per cent, followed by IT which rose by 1.83 per cent and Capital Goods which went up by 1.80 per cent. BSE Teck rose 1.59 per cent, while industrials climbed 1.50 per cent and power ended 1.38 per cent higher.