Sensex adds 848 pts, ends at 49,581 on broad-based buying; Nifty Bank up 4%

Stock market updates: A sharp drop in Covid-19 cases lifted benchmark indices nearly 2 per cent higher on Monday. The frontline S&P BSE Sensex zoomed 848 points to settle the day at 49,581 levels, lifted largely by financial counters.

Eight of the top 10 index contributors included names like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, SBI, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Reliance Industries and Infosys were the remaining two contributors. 

On the NSE, the Nifty50 reclaimed the 14,900-mark and ended at 14,923 levels, up 245 points. About 39 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green today including IndusInd Bank (up 7.5 per cent), SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UPL, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, and Eicher Motors.

On the downside, Cipla, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Nestle India, Sun Pharma, HDFC Life, and Maruti Suzuki were the top laggards, down up to 2.4 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended 1.6 per cent higher each. 

On the sectoral front, all but Nifty Pharma index ended the day with gains. The Nifty Bank index added 4 per cent on the NSE today, trailed by the Nifty Financial Services index (up 3 per cent), and the Nifty Metal index (up 2.5 per cent). On the contrary, the Nifty Pharma index slipped 0.14 per cent on profit booking.

Global markets
European stocks dipped on Monday after staging a sharp recovery late last week, as underwhelming Chinese data and a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in some Asian countries outweighed optimism over the reopening of the British economy.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.1 per cent, adding to last week’s marginal losses spurred by a US inflation scare.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.9 per cent and South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.6 per cent. China's CSI30 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng, on the other hand, added 1.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:58 PM

TECH VIEW :: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

The short term trend of Nifty seems to have reversed up firmly, after a reasonable weakness of the last few sessions. Having placed at the crucial overhead resistance around 15000 levels, there is a possibility of volatility emerging or minor downward correction from the highs in the next few sessions and that is going to be a buy on dips opportunity in the market. Immediate support is placed at 14780 levels.

4:48 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Sec

On reports of a sharp decline in the Covid19 cases in India, we saw a smart recovery in the market. Financial sector did extremely well and the Bank- Nifty gained 1000 points over its previous closing and closed 4 per cent higher. As usual, we saw a strong surge in HDFC twins and Bajaj Twins, which helped the market move higher. After hitting the major support levels, the metal stocks bounced back sharply. The markets rallied throughout the day and closed at the highest point of the day. Tomorrow, if global markets support and domestic news flow continue to favor, then we would see 15000 or 15050 at the opening. On the other hand, any weak opening around 14870/14850  would be a buying opportunity in the market. The focus should be on financials, Auto and commodities stocks with a short term view.

 

 

4:40 PM

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

Indian benchmark equity indices rose on May 17 aided by upmoves in Banks, and Auto stocks. Nifty opened higher and kept rising through the day without any sizeable intra day correction. At close, the Nifty was up 245.40 points or 1.67% at 14923.20. This was the best single day gain in the index in more than a month.

 

Volumes on the NSE were in line with recent averages. Among sectors, Banks, Metals, Auto, Realty and Power were the main gainers while Telecom was the loser. 

 

Nifty rose sharply and ended almost at the intra day high. The next stop on the upside is 14966-15044 band. A breach of this band could lead to a challenge to the all time highs of the Nifty (15432). On falls 14824-14850 band could provide support. A healthy advance decline ratio suggests return of confidence of traders in the broader markets.

4:25 PM

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

Indian indices soared with solid gains led by banking, metal and auto stocks due to fall in infection cases. The market expects a rapid fall in daily reported Covid cases which helped to ease concerns over extended lockdowns and sharp correction in FY22 estimates. Banking stocks took a breather as it helped in soothing asset quality concerns

4:12 PM

MARKET RECAP :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

Bulls took centre stage today as the vaccination drive is expected to pick up momentum and the launch of the DRDO drug ignited the street as pivotals led by Banks saw support from Autos & Metals. In the broader market we did witness profit taking in Pharma stocks

4:00 PM

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

The market witnessed some decisive trends and an attempt to overcome the resistance level around the Nifty 50 Index level of 14950. While sustaining above 14950 is the key factor from a short-term perspective, staying above this level market to gain momentum and to open the gate for a movement till 15100-15200. The momentum indicators like RSI, MACD to recover after staying neutral to bearish in recent time.

3:51 PM

Broader market :: SmallCap index ends 1.6% higher led by Hester Biosciences, Quick Heal

3:50 PM

Broader market :: MidCap index ends mildly lower than Sensex

3:48 PM

NSE Snapshot :: Top Nifty50 gainers today

3:46 PM

Financials lift Sensex today; RIL, Infy too support

3:44 PM

Sectoral trends on the NSE :: All but pharma end in the green

3:41 PM

Sensex Heatmap

Top gainers: IndusInd Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank

Top losers: Bharti Airtel, Nestle India, L&T

3:34 PM

CLOSING BELL

The frontline S&P BSE Sensex zoomed 848 points to settle the day at 49,581 levels today lifted largely by financial counters.

 

On the NSE, the Nifty50 reclaimed the 14,900-mark and ended at 14,923 levels, up 245 points. About 39 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green today including IndusInd Bank (up 7.5 per cent), SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UPL, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, and Eicher Motors.

3:27 PM

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3:17 PM

SBI, HDFC Bank: Here is why bank stocks rallied up to 6% on Monday

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