Sensex and Nifty managed to end in the green after a volatile trading session on Thursday. Recovering from Wednesday's losses, Sensex ended 268 points higher at 38,140 and Nifty closed 82 points higher to 11,215. Yesterday, Sensex closed 58 points lower at 37,871 and Nifty ended 29 points down at 11,132.
Sectorally, barring IT, all other indices closed bullish today, with banking, realty and pharma gaining the most. Asian Paints, followed by L&T, Sun Pharma, ITC, Titan, HDFC, SBI and ONGC were the top gainers today, while Axis Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, M&M and PowerGrid were among the laggards. The market also found support through a rally in oil conglomerate- RIL's shares as it became the first-ever Indian company to hit Rs 13 lakh crore market cap.
Commenting on today's volatile trade, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "Benchmark indices ended the day with gains, following positivity in the global markets. Global markets set aside the rising US-China tensions and focused on potential vaccine developments and better than expected earnings numbers. Liquidity seems to be driving the markets."
On stock-specific action, S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said," While Reliance has been instrumental in providing the bulls with the much-needed ammunition this month, the pharmaceutical pack has lent able support today even as we witnessed profit booking in Rural based stocks".
Benchmark indices erased early losses and gained momentum during the first half of Thursday's session, amid mixed overseas equities. Asian markets were trading mixed on Thursday amid concerns over rising tensions between US and China. Concerns rose after the US ordered China to close its Houston consulate and on the status of the stimulus package.
Wall Street closed slightly higher yesterday, while European markets erased bearish trend and rose today overshadowing concerns over the rising coronavirus cases and focused on optimism over the recent EU recovery fund.
On the currency front, Rupee ended unchanged at 74.76 per dollar today.
On the earnings front, Radico Khaitan, Sterlite Tech, PNB Housing Finance posted their Q1 earnings during today's session. Meanwhile, AU Small Finance Bank, Biocon, Dish TV and HDFC Asset Management are the top companies that will report their April-June quarter earnings later today.
The continued volatility in global equity markets has also led to Gold futures (on Multi Commodity Exchange) hitting a lifetime high of Rs 50,707 per 10 gm today, tracking heightened buying sentiment from overseas commodity markets.
On MCX Gold's near term outlook, Kishore Narne, Associate Director & Head, Commodities & Currencies, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said," We have been bullish on gold for the last couple of years and the view has played out very well, and two quarters back in Dec'19, we have revised our targets from Rs 42,000/10gms to Rs 65,000/10 Gms in 18-24 months. We expect gold to keep up the momentum with occasional corrections, and we suggest investors to use every dip to keep buying gold over medium to long term targets of Rs 65,000".
RIL becomes first Indian firm to cross Rs 13 lakh crore market cap, share hits all-time high