Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
Stocks extend gains for a fifth sessiononfag-endbuyinginIT
A recovery in the rupee also boosted the confidence of investors
MUMBAI: Benchmark indices ticked higher for the fifth straight session on Thursday, buoyed by fag-end buying in IT stocks despite a largely downbeat trend overseas. A recovery in the rupee also boosted investor confidence. After swinging between gains and losses throughout the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex saw robust buying towards the fag end to close 95.71 points or 0.16% higher at 59,202.90.
The broader NSE Nifty climbed 51.70 points or 0.30% to 17,563.95.
HCL Technologies topped the Sensex gainers’ chart, spurting 2.22%, followed by Tech Mahindra, NTPC, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, TCS and Infosys. IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, Titan and Axis Bank were among the laggards, dropping as much as 4.71%.
The market breadth was in favour of the bulls, with 18 of the 30 Sensex components closing in the green.
“Despite global headwinds, sentiments were positive ahead of Diwali festival and healthy earnings so far. Nifty has found support above 17,400 zones for the 3rd consecutive day indicating strong base formation. We expect the strength in the market to continue in the near term. Stock specific action would continue as companies keep announcing results,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head, retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.
The markets are digesting the recent gains and the tone is still positive, because of noticeable buying interest on every dip, said Ajit Mishra, vice-president, research, Religare Broking Ltd. “However, we’re seeing limited participation across sectors so the focus should remain on stock selection. Further recovery in the global indices, especially the US, would strengthen the trend and help the Nifty to inch toward the 17,800 levels,” he noted.
In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge fell 0.30% and the smallcap index ended marginally lower by 0.01%.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas climbed 1.69%, followed by utilities (1.66%), power (1.50%), energy (1.39%), IT (1.20%) and teck (1.19%).
Services, bankex, capital goods, consumer durables, industrials and financial services posted losses. World stocks were largely negative ahead of a slew of central bank meetings.
Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in mid-session deals. Wall Street ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, offloading shares worth ₹453.91 crore, exchange data showed.
Meanwhile, the rupee rebounded from its lifetime lows to close 25 paise higher at 82.75 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday amid weakness in the greenback overseas.
The local currency recovered on suspected Reserve Bank of India intervention after hitting a record low of 83.29 during the session.
At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened weak at 83.05 against the dollar and lost ground to quote at 83.29. It also touched an intra-day high of 82.72. The rupee pared its losses to end at 82.75 (provisional), registering a gain of 25 paise over its previous close.