IT, finance sparkle as Sensex closes at four-month high
Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 515 points on Thursday to reclaim the 59,000mark after a gap of four months, propelled by heavy buying in IT, banking and financial stocks amid sustained foreign fund inflows and positive Asian equities.
The 30- share BSE index ended 515.31 points or 0.88% higher at 59,332.60 -- its highest closing since April 8, 2022.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty gained 124.25 points or 124.25% to close at 17,659.
Axis Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing 2.75%, followed by Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, TCS, SBI and Wipro.
On the other hand, ITC, NTPC, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Maruti and Nestle India were among the major laggards, sliding as much as 1.56%.
Market breadth was in favour of the bulls, with 19 of the 30 Sensex counters logging gains.
“Investors cheered the US inflation data for July, which came in below the estimate and raised hopes that the Federal Reserve may not be that aggressive in hiking interest rates in its next meeting. Hence, the optimism spread across Asian markets, including India where investors lapped up banking, IT and realty stocks.
“Traders have also been drawing comfort from the falling crude oil prices and FII inflows into the local shares in the last few sessions,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd. Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said commodity costs have corrected over the last few weeks, offering some respite from the record high inflation.
“India’s inflation data is due on tomorrow (Friday) which would be eyed eagerly amidst better US inflation data. The benefit of the recent moderation in commodity costs is likely to start accruing in H2 FY23E, which would boost corporate profitability.“Thus the positive momentum in the market is likely to sustain going ahead, though bouts of volatility can’t be ruled out given mixed global cues and increasing geopolitical tensions,” he added.
Sectorally, BSE bankex, finance, IT and realty climbed up to 1.64% while FMCG, metal, auto, telecom and basic materials nursed losses.
Broader markets were up, with the BSE midcap index advancing 0.83% and the smallcap gauge rising 0.52%.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul ended with significant gains, while Tokyo closed in the red.Meanwhile, the Brent crude was trading 0.92% higher at $98.30 per barrel.30 per barrel..