Stock markets rise for 3rd session; Sensex gains 169 pts

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices 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, continuous foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in global equities restricted gains in the market, traders said. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 169.87 points or 0.28 per cent to settle at 60,300.58. During the day, it jumped 232.08 points or 0.38 per cent to 60,362.79. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 44.35 points or 0.25 per cent to end at 17,813.60.

"The domestic bourses mirrored the mood on Wall Street as soft economic data and underwhelming earnings dragged US equities to a weak close yesterday. However, the market gradually recovered after an uptick in US futures, with the earnings of tech companies providing support. "Adding to investors' concerns about a possible recession, the US consumer confidence data for April hit a nine-month low ahead of the upcoming Fed policy meeting," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Biggest gainer among Sensex components

PowerGrid was the biggest gainer among the Sensex components, spurting 2.59 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Nestle, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC were the major winners. On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Reliance Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest laggards, dropping up to 0.84 per cent.

"Investors are likely to have covered their positions ahead of the monthly F&O expiry 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 the US Federal Reserve policy next month, markets may take cues from global direction to exercise caution," Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.97 per cent and the smallcap index gained 1.29 per cent. Realty and FMCG sectors were top gainers today. Nifty FMCG index surged to all-time high levels post the healthy results from Tata Consumer and Nestle, which reflected an improvement in demand and an easing of inflationary cost pressures, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Among sectoral indices, realty jumped 1.30 per cent, capital goods climbed 1 per cent, telecommunication (0.88 per cent), industrials (0.71 per cent) and FMCG (0.61 per cent). Metal, healthcare and energy ended in the red."Nifty ended in the positive for the third consecutive session. Most global equities fell on Wednesday after softening US data and renewed banking sector concerns fanned fears of a recession and dampened risk appetite," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said.

Asian markets

In Asian markets, Hong Kong ended in the green, while Tokyo and Shanghai settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading in negative territory. The US markets had ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.17 per cent to USD 80.91 per barrel. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 407.35 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

"The short-term trend of the market continues to be positive. The Nifty is now reaching the important resistance of 17,863 levels in the short term. There is a possibility of minor consolidation movement at the highs before showing a decisive upside breakout for the near term. Immediate support is at 17,700 levels," Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said.

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