Equity index benchmarks Sensex and Nifty extended their rally for the third straight session on Wednesday amid buying in index majors IndusInd Bank, Nestle India and HCL Tech.
However, steady foreign fund outflows and weak trend in global equities restricted market gains, traders said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 169.87 points or 0.28% to settle at 60,300.58. On the day, it jumped 232.08 points or 0.38% to 60,362.79.
The broader NSE Nifty advanced 44.35 points or 0.25% to end at 17,813.60.
“Domestic bourses reflected the mood on Wall Street as weak economic data and poor earnings dragged US equities to a weak close yesterday. However, the market gradually recovered after a rise in US futures , along with the profits of the tech companies that provide support.
“Adding to investors’ concerns about a possible recession, US consumer confidence data for April hit a nine-month low ahead of the Fed’s upcoming policy meeting,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
PowerGrid was the biggest gainer among Sensex shares, surging 2.59%, followed by IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Nestle, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC the major winners .
On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Reliance Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest laggards, down by up to 0.84%.
“Investors are likely to cover their positions ahead of the monthly F&O expiration on Thursday. Markets shrugging off global weakness is an indication that our fundamentals remain intact and investors are willing to stay risk-on in Indian equities.
“But ahead of US Federal Reserve policy next month, markets may take cues from the global direction to be cautious,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.
In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.97% and the smallcap index gained 1.29%.
Realty and FMCG sectors are leading now. The nifty FMCG index rose to all-time highs posting healthy results from Tata Consumer and Nestle, reflecting improving demand and easing inflationary cost pressure, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.
Among the sectoral indices, realty jumped 1.30%, capital goods climbed 1%, telecommunication (0.88%), industrials (0.71%) and FMCG (0.61%).
Metals, health care and energy finished in the red.
“The Nifty ended positive for the third consecutive session… Most global equities fell on Wednesday after soft US data and renewed concerns over the banking sector fueled fears of a recession and weakened risk appetite,” Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said.
Among Asian markets, Hong Kong ended in the green, while Tokyo and Shanghai settled lower.
European equity markets are trading in negative territory. US markets ended lower on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.17% to USD 80.91 per barrel.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth ₹407.35 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
“The short-term trend of the market continues to be positive. The Nifty is now touching the important resistance of 17,863 level in the short term.
“There is a possibility of a minor consolidation movement at the highs before showing a decisive upside breakout for the near term. The immediate support is at the 17,700 level,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.
