Sensex ends 261 pts up at record closing peak of 48,438; IT stocks outrun

Bulls wrestled back control in the Indian markets in Tuesday's volatile session and helped benchmark indices scale fresh lifetime highs after a subdued first half. Sharp gains in banking and information technology scrips helped indices settle 0.5 per cent higher. On the global front, the UK government's announcement to roll out a new $6.2 billion support package for businesses struggling to cope with a third national lockdown accelerated buying momentum.

The frontline S&P BSE Sensex ended the choppy session near record high level of 48,486.24 on the BSE, at 48,438 levels, up 261 points, or 0.54 per cent. HDFC twins, Axis Bank, TCS, and ICICI Bank remained the top contributors towards the index's gain today, providing support of nearly 180 points.

Axis Bank ended the session as top Sensex gainers, up 6 per cent at close, followed by gains in HDFC (2.7 per cent), IndusInd Bank (2.7 per cent), and TCS (1.7 per cent). On the downside, heavyweights like Bajaj Finance (down 1.5 per cent), Reliance Industries (1.2 per cent), and Bajaj Finserv (1 per cent) capped gains.

The Nifty50, on the other hand, added 66.6 points, or 0.47 per cent, in Tuesday's session to close at 14,199 levels. The index hit a record peak of 14,215.6.

On the sectoral front, the Nifty IT index settled on the NSE as top performer, up 2.6 per cent. Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Bank indices were other top gainers, up around 2 per cent. The Nifty Metal index, down 1.4 per cent, ended the day as top loser.

In the broader market, mid-cap stocks continued to outrun their large-cap peers. The S&P BSE MidCap index ended 1.4 per cent higher at 18,676 level. The SmallCap counterpart ended 0.7 per cent up at 18,641 level.

Global markets

Asian shares edged lower on Tuesday amid uncertainty about Senate runoffs in Georgia. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.05 per cent, pulling back from a record high. Australian stocks fell 0.26 per cent. Chinese shares erased early losses and rose 0.52 per cent.

Japanese shares lost 0.34 per cent after a spokesman said the government will reach a decision on a state of emergency for Tokyo and surrounding cities on Thursday to curb coronavirus infections. 

In Europe, stocks slipped as losses in defensive sectors offset gains in oil and retail stocks. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.2 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:32 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Shrikant Chouhan, Executive VP, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities

Today the market closed at the highest point of the day. This was unexpected for after yesterday's massive decline in the US market. The Nifty 50 index and the BSE Sensex 30 closed at 14199.50 and 48437.78, respectively. Financial stocks improved as expected yesterday. Shares of Axis and HDFC Ltd helped the market close higher. The metal index closed in the negative territory after yesterday's excellent performance.

The Nifty and the Sensex have created a big bullish Japanese candle that closed at the previous day's high. It is a reliable and confident close for the market and based on that we can expect the index to reach  the level of 14,350/48,800 in the near term. Support would be at 14,130/48,100 and at 14,050/47,900 levels. Be specific and keep on reducing cost of investment

4:06 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Deepak Jasani, Head of Research, HDFC Securities

Indian equity benchmark indices erased all the intraday losses and rose from intraday lows formed at 1016 am. They ended near the day's high. At close, the Nifty was up 66.60 points or 0.47% at 14,199.50.

Volumes on the NSE were higher than recent average. Among sectors IT, Bank and Media were the main gainers while Metals & Realty were the losers.

 

Nifty has risen for the 10th consecutive session and has closed at almost 14,200 as expected. The momentum is still strong and some more upsides (more in the broader market than the index) is likely over the next few days.

3:59 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

One more positive session and index managed to close a day on fresh highs at 14200 with gains of half a percent and formed a bullish candle on daily chart. Now index has shifted its base to 14100 zone and overall base is still at 14k mark holding above said levels a buy on dip structure is still intact, on the other hand index managed to breach 14200 zone decisively its suggest that ongoing move can push index to 14300-14400 zone in near term. Nifty bank has witnessed fresh breakouts so next leg of rally will include both Private and PSU banks

3:57 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Osho Krishan, Sr. Manager – Equity Research, Anand Rathi Shares

NIFTYIT has outperformed the broader indices as the tech majors are all set to announce their quarterly earnings, followed by the Banking index which indicates a decisive up-move breaching its consolidation and marched higher towards its life-time high zone.  Simultaneously, the benchmark index NIFTY has seen an addition in 14100PE followed by 14000PE suggesting it be a strong base, while 14200 and 14300 could be the next immediate resistance for the next session. The overall trend seems to be positive while any minor correction could be utilized to build up a long position for the near-term trend

3:57 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Based on the historical standards of valuation, today, equities are at rich level. But these levels are easily extended or cannot be comparable due to one-time economic euphoria from early vaccination, high double digit earnings growth and high liquidity in the market. The ongoing Indian rally is supported by the anticipation of Q3 result, on earnings front we expect green shoots due to uptrend in economic activity and record collections in GST

3:56 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

Bulls put to rest worries across Europe on account of the lockdown as IT & Financials led the charge in Afternoon Trade. The broader market witnessed a renewed interest in Insurance stocks and several Small & Midcap names across sectors were seen buzzing around

3:56 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research

The market continues to witness resilience and recovered after an opening with a gap down to stay above the immediate support level of the Nifty 50 Index level of 13,950. While sustaining above 13,950 is the key factor from a short-term perspective. We suggest maintaining above this level market to gain momentum and open the possibility for a movement until 14,250-14,270. The momentum indicators like RSI, MACD to recover, and market breadth to improve, further strengthening a short-term bullish outlook

3:55 PM

MARKET INSIGHTS :: Nifty Bank ends at a 1-yr closing high

>> Index is now less than 900 pts away from record high of 32,600

3:53 PM

Market stats :: Market breadth remains in favours of advances

3:51 PM

S&P BSE MidCap extends gains; InfoEdge rallies 14%, MRPL 7%

3:49 PM

Index contributors :: IT, bank stocks lift index

3:47 PM

Sectoral trends on NSE at Close

3:46 PM

Sensex Heatmap :: Axis Bank soars over 6%, ONGC sown 2%

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

>> The frontline S&P BSE Sensex ended the choppy session near record high levels of 48,486.24 on the BSE, at 48,438 levels, up 261 points, or 0.54 per cent.

>> The Nifty50, on the other hand, added 66.6 points, or 0.47 per cent, in Tuesday's session to close at 14,199 levels. The index hit record peak of 14,215.6.

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