Sensex Today: A solid trading session saw a relatively weak close as fag-end selling in banking stocks weighed on the bourses. The benchmarks, however, settled higher for a second consecutive session.
The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 306.5 points, or 0.47 per cent, to end at 65,982.5 after hitting an intraday high of 66,358. The Nifty50, meanwhile, closed below the 19,800-mark at 19,762.5, higher by 87 points or 0.44 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 19,875.
Hero MotoCorp, Tech M, HCL Tech, Tech M, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Dr Reddy’s Labs, LTIMindtree, Apollo Hospitals, M&M, and Bajaj Finance gained between 2 per cent and 3.3 per cent, NTPC, BPCL, Wipro, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Titan, ONGC, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Divis Labs, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, and Adani Ports rose in the range of 0.5 per cent to 1.9 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices closed 0.5 per cent higher each.
Among sectors, the Nifty PSU Bank index fell 0.24 per cent, the Nifty FMCG 0.15 per cent, and the Nifty Bank 0.09 per cent. On the upside, the Nifty IT index rallied 2.7 per cent, follwoed by the Nifty Pharma, Media, and Metal indices (up 0.8 per cent each).
“During August, September October and November till date FPIs cumulatively sold stocks for Rs 83422 crores through the exchanges. During this period DIIs alone bought stocks worth Rs 77995 crores. FPI selling is completely getting neutralised by DII and individual investor buying. This is the reason why Nifty is around 19675, the same level which it was in early August,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
“The resilience of the market and strong up moves on favourable days like yesterday have forced a rethinking in FPI strategy. That’s why they bought for Rs 550 crores yesterday after sustained selling in all other days of November. FIIs turning buyers is favourable for banking stocks, particularly the large caps, which are attractively valued. Automobiles are on a strong wicket,” Vijayakumar said.
Global Markets
US stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday, as fresh inflation data reinforced investor hopes that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.
However, Asian stock markets struggled for momentum on Thursday, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index losing 0.7%, after jumping 2.77% in the previous session. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was 0.1% lower in early trade. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.35%.
