Markets close with gains: Sensex rises 114 points, Nifty above 9,100-mark; ITC top gainer, rallies over 7%
Nifty Auto and FMCG ended with over 2.3 percent gains which have offset the sell-off of the banking stocks.
Tracking strong gains in the US market, the Indian bourses made a positive start. The underperformance of banking stocks continue to weigh on the market, but it managed to end with a gain of 0.4 percent. Buying was broad-based and all sectoral indices except financials ended in green.
US crude oil prices recovered as crude inventories fell again and investor sentiments also got a boost on easing down of lockdown restrictions while improving investor hopes that the economic impact of the pandemic would be limited.
Representational image. Reuters
Nifty Auto and FMCG ended with over 2.3 percent gains which have offset the sell-off of the banking stocks.
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Manish Hathiramani, Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments, said, "The markets continued its uptrend through the day but gave up some of its gains on probable grounds of profit booking and the weekly expiry of the Nifty and Bank Nifty options. The short term trend continues to remain positive. The resistance of the Nifty50 would be around 9200 and the support would be 9,000. Traders can use these levels to trade the Nifty for a target of 9200 and then 9300 with a stop below the levels of 9,000."
Sensex rose 114 points on Thursday as investors accumulated FMCG, auto and IT stocks amid gradual reopening of the economy. After rising to an intra-day high of 31,188.79, the 30-share index settled 114.29 points or 0.37 percent up at 30,932.90. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 39.70 points, or 0.44 percent, to 9,106.25.
ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 7 percent, followed by Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, TCS and HCL Tech.
On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, HDFC and L&T were among the laggards.
Going ahead investors are likely to remain cautious on development of COVID-19 cases and vaccines, lockdown restrictions with changing economic policies, and Crude oil prices movements.
Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director, Choice Broking said, "Finally Nifty settled its closing at 9,106 level with the gain of 40 points, however, in contrast, the BankNifty gave its closing at 17,735 level with the loss of 105 points on back of private sector banking losing movement. At the start of trade, we saw a jovial opening and the momentum continued till the end of first session. However, during the start of the second session, the momentum could not sustain at higher levels and we witnessed a fall of 100 points in the Index from its day's high. At present level, the Index has strong support at 9,000-8,800 while upside resistance comes at 9,200-level," Bagadia said.
Buying was seen in frontline stocks of sectors like auto, IT, metals and FMCG as traders took note of gradual opening of the economy, raising hopes of economic recovery, said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi, to PTI. However, at the fag-end of the session, some selling was witnessed as negative global cues continued for the second straight day and traders booked profits as weekly expiry neared, leading to indices losing majority of the gains, he added.
Concerns over the long-term impact of COVID-19 and worsening China-US relations too kept investors on the edge, traders said.
The number of COVID-19 cases in India spiked to over 1.12 lakh, while the death toll rose to 3,435, according to the health ministry.
Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 49.96 lakh and the death toll has topped 3.28 lakh.
Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo ended in the red, Seoul closed with gains.
Stock exchanges in Europe were trading with significant losses in early deals.
International oil benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 1.79 per cent to USD 36.39 per barrel.
Rupee rises 19 paise to 75.61 against dollar
The rupee appreciated 19 paise to close at 75.61 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking positive trend in domestic markets.
Forex traders said the rupee witnessed high volatility during the trading session as positive domestic equities supported the local unit, while sustained foreign fund outflows and concerns over coronavirus outbreak weighed on the greenback.
#Rupee ends stronger compared to previous close
6.45% 2029 bond ends up 7 pasie at Rs 102.97; yield at 6.03%
5.79% 2030 bond ends up 5 paise at Rs 100.20; yield at 5.76% pic.twitter.com/C5ZtcW4t34
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened strong at 75.70, then it gained further to finally settled at 75.61, registering a rise of 19 paise over its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 75.80 against the US dollar.
During the session, the local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 75.61 and a low of 75.82.
Domestic bourses were trading on a positive note with the benchmark Sensex trading 170.93 points higher at 30,978.80 and broader Nifty rising 47.75 points to 9,114.30.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold equity shares worth Rs 1,466.52 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.
---With inputs from agencies
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