Equity benchmark indices ended in the positive range for the fourth day as global and domestic cues boosted investors’ confidence. settled 256.22 points or 0.31 per cent positive at 82,445.21, after rising by 480 points intraday, led by banking and financial stocks.
Thesurged 100.15 points or 0.40 per cent to 25,103.20. “Nifty continued its upward journey for the fourth consecutive session to close at an eight-month high,” Nandish Shah – Deputy Vice-President, HDFC Securities, said.
According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, financial stocks extended their rally, driven by the RBI’s supportive monetory policies – repo rate and CRR cut.
“These actions have boosted investor confidence and are expected to enhance liquidity in the near to medium term, especially in midcaps. The positive US jobs data and renewed optimism over US-China trade talks lifted global sentiment. Domestically, even large caps expressed renewed momentum, led by FII inflows,” Nair added.
According to market experts, the midcap and smallcap indices extended their outperformance relative to the benchmark. The Nifty Midcap 100 advanced by 1.13 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 surged even stronger by 1.57 per cent.
On the sectoral front, all indexes, except Nifty Realty, ended in the green. Among them, financials, NBFCs, PSU banks, IT, and oil & gas witnessed strong buying interest.
Nifty Bank clocked a fresh record high of 57,049, setting the milestone and confirming a decisive breakout from its month-long ascending triangle formation, Mehra, Technical Research Analyst, Samco Securities said. “This upward breach follows multiple failed attempts and finally clears the previous congestion zone with conviction. The index remains firmly positioned above all key moving averages.”
Top movers today
Among the Nifty 50 pack, Jio Financial Services, , , Trent, Axis Bank and Adani Enterprises emerged as major gainers, while Eternal and ICICI Bank were major laggards.
Shares of , M&M, Adani Ports and Bharti Airtel also slipped to end in negative territory.
NBFC stocks including , IIFL Finance, and Muthoot Finance rallied on RBI’s policy support.
Bandhan Bank, IREDA, Hindustan Zinc, OFSS and surged 4-7 per cent among midcap. Five-Star Business, IIFL, Manappuram Finance, MCX and MGL zoomed 7-9 per cent among smallcap.
A total of 2,066 stocks advanced and 904 declined of all the 3,055 stocks that were traded on the National Stock Exchange. 108 stocks including , BSE, AU Small Finance, and HDFC AMC hit 52-week high, and 20 stocks hit 52-week low.
133 stocks hit the upper circuit including , ITI, Emcure, Coffee Day and Cosmo First, and 54 stocks hit lower circuit.
On the BSE, CGCL zoomed 20 per cent. Coffee Day Enterprises, Westlife Foodworld, DBL and Five-Star rallied 10 per cent. On the flip side, SEPC, Orient Cement, Avantel and Cochin Shipyard fell 4-6 per cent.
The market likely to continue its gradual up-move, according to Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, on the back of strong domestic cues such as better-than-expected Q4 corporate earnings, RBI’s liquidity-boosting measures, above average monsoon forecast and the likely US-India trade deal.
Asian markets settled in positive territory.
US markets ended sharply higher on Friday. FIIs bought equities worth ₹1,009.71 crore on Friday. Sensex ended higher by 746.95 points or 0.92 per cent at 82,188.99 on Friday, while Nifty 50 settled 252.15 points or 1.02 per cent positive at 25,003.05.